DUBAI // Female Emirati paramedics, who are at the frontline of emergency medical care, yesterday spoke of the tough emotional challenges their jobs pose.
“Seeing dead children is one of the toughest,” said Maitha Al Katibe, 25, who has been a paramedic for the past four years in Dubai.
“There was once this five-year-old local boy who had drowned in a swimming pool. When we went there, we knew he was dead but tried our best to revive him for nearly three hours.
“The usual protocol is just one hour. I had to check which hospital would accept him. Al Wasl Hospital took him and the doctors tried hard to save him. It is extremely tough when we see such situations.”
This year’s 11th Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference focuses on women, with emphasis on their roles in assistance and on the suffering they face at the hands of crises and disasters.
Fatima Juma, 23, who has been a paramedic for a year, said one of the hardest parts of her job was bottling up her emotions.
“We go through a lot of emotions but we can’t show them in front of the [patient’s] family,” said the Emirati. “They are upset and angry and sometimes shout at us. We know they are not shouting at us. We have to try to calm them down.
“You can’t say everything will be good because we can’t give them too much hope. We have to say we are doing our best to save their loved ones.”
The conference is at the Dubai World Trade Centre until tomorrow.
pkannan@thenational.ae