FUJAIRAH // A lack of an accident and emergency department and a 24-hour healthcare centre is of concern for residents of Al Halah and Al Ghub.
The closest hospital to Al Halah is 25 minutes away, which means that dealing with emergency cases can be problematic.
“We have a healthcare centre but it doesn’t open 24 hours and they are not fully equipped to receive emergency cases,” said Al Halal resident Noura Salem, 24. “An accident happened two years ago in front of the centre, where a boy crashed his motorcycle, but they couldn’t help him, the ambulance took time and he died before reaching the hospital.”
Dibba Hospital is the nearest major facility to the neighbourhood, but it is 18 kilometres away.
Fatima Al Suraidi, 27, from Al Halah, said she feels helpless if one of her two daughters gets sick at night. “I don’t know what to do, and I’m always worried if accidents might happen to them or any family member,” she said.
In Al Ghub, many residents travel 12km to Dibba to visit a doctor, or they go to Al Halah healthcare centre 11km away.
“We don’t have our own centre and there are about 200 families living in Al Ghub. Most of the time we go to Dibba Hospital as we can find more specialties there but sometimes it’s hard to find someone to drive you there if I have an appointment,” said Umm Rashed, 43.
rhaza@thenational.ae
