NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

Building falls during work break

The workers had just left for their lunch break when the car park collapsed in the Abu Shagara district of Sharjah yesterday, Pawan Singh / The National

SHARJAH - OCT 12: Six workers were injured when a partially completed car park collapsed yesterday and the toll could have been much worse, officials said.

The structure had been filled with more than 100 labourers minutes earlier. Just after they left for their lunch break, the structure – designed to hold 1,681 cars on each of its nine storeys – fell with a sound resembling an explosion, witnesses said.

Muzzafar Khan, a grocery shop owner in the neighbourhood, said he heard a loud noise about 12.30pm, followed by a number of workers running from the building site.

Only a handful of scaffolding poles remained upright after the collapse, which left four workers with moderate injuries and two with minor injuries.

The incident is the latest of several structural failures of buildings under construction and comes two weeks after the death of one worker in a roof collapse.

Work on the Dh86 million (US$23.4m) car park for Sharjah Municipality in the largely residential Abu Shagara district began three months ago.

Brigadier Mohammed al Hudaidi, the head of the Sharjah Police, arrived at the scene minutes after the collapse to help in the rescue effort. He said the injured workers were recovering in Kuwait Hospital and that the police would investigate the collapse with the municipality.

Some Sharjah officials considered the low injury toll an outright miracle.

“It’s God’s plan that it happened during the rest hours,” said Col Waheed al Serkal, the head of Sharjah Civil Defence.

“Most of the workers had gone out to their accommodation. If it was another time, it would have been disastrous.”

One Indian labourer working on a nearby building said two of his friends had a narrow escape.

“I had seen them on the top of the building some hours back, they were pouring the concrete on that day,” said the worker, who identified himself as Mahdi, 26. He said he later rushed back to their camp to confirm that his friends were not among the injured.

While no arrests have been made in connection with the collapse, officers were interviewing the building engineers, Brig al Hudaidi said.

No one from Bharath Tower Foundation, the contractors for the building, would comment yesterday.

Sultan al Mualla, the director general of Sharjah Municipality, said the building had been designated structurally sound.

Municipal officials had inspected the site about 8.30am yesterday and found no abnormalities, allowing workers to continue with their work.

After the collapse, authorities cordoned off most of the area, closing the roads leading to the building. Emergency vehicles struggled to make their way through the crowds as residents gathered to see what had happened.

Though police dogs had been brought on the scene to help search for anyone trapped in the rubble, Brig al Hudaidi later said no one was found.

Col Mohammed Eid al Madhloom, the head of the Sharjah Police operations room, said police were alerted by engineers on the scene. He said emergency workers’ immediate response helped to save the lives of the injured.

Builders had just completed work on the structure’s first floor, according to one engineer working on the building who preferred not to be named. He said construction had begun in July and was expected to last for 16 months.

Taha Hafifi, 32, died two weeks ago when the roof of a building collapsed as concrete was poured onto it in Ras al Khaimah. His death came a month and a half after the complete collapse of a building under construction in the Deira district of Dubai, which an investigation committee later blamed on a design fault. In that instance, 21 workers fled the building shortly after hearing it creak.

The most serious recent incident occurred last year in Ajman, where six men died at the Laguna Beach Hotel, as a concrete floor was being poured above the basement.

The car park that collapsed yesterday was one of 40 that Sharjah Municipality had announced would be built in the coming five years to ease a chronic lack of parking.

Lives at risk as diseases unreported

 
ABU DHABI - OCT 12: Infectious diseases are being under-reported in the UAE and Middle East, potentially putting lives at risk, experts warned yesterday.

Dr Nawal al Kaabi, a consultant and division head of paediatric diseases at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, said heavy workloads and a lack of awareness among health professionals were primarily to blame.

There are no nationwide statistics on infection rates in hospitals or the community. Individual hospitals or emirates may gather their own figures, but there is no way for them to be compared to identify problems, Dr al Kaabi said.

“We are definitely under-reporting in the UAE and Middle East,” she said. “Public health bodies need to be aware of any problems and if we do not report it, by the time they learn about it, it might be too late.”

A prime example is meningitis, a contagious and deadly spinal infection. “If the first case is not reported the public health might only learn about it when there are several cases, here survival might be less,” she said.

Speaking after her presentation at the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress, Dr al Kaabi emphasised that improved reporting would save lives, as some of the most severe infectious diseases can be prevented by vaccination.

“Having the public health body aware of any diseases, especially if it is preventable, which most of them are, would mean a vaccination programme could be put in place.”

Better reporting would also help the country draw up better public health policy, she said.

One of the other key factors is enforcement of existing policies. Emirates’ health authorities each have infection control policies, while federal laws also govern the reporting of certain diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV/Aids.

The Ministry of Health warned private hospitals in June that they would face legal action if they failed to report swine flu cases.

Dr al Kaabi said many factors contributed to under-reporting but the main ones were workload and awareness.

“Physicians see many patients every day, so it is sometimes very hard for them to do all the reporting, and they may even forget,” she said.

“The other thing is maybe people are not as aware as they should be about what the reportable diseases are. They are not always sure what they have to report.”

As well as better enforcement, professionals say the situation could be improved in a number of other ways.

Hospitals could employ someone to review admission information, Dr al Kaabi said, and ensure all infectious diseases were reported to the relevant authority. The same could apply to the laboratory staff.

Abu Dhabi has made efforts recently to introduce electronic medical records. Daman, the national insurance company, only accepts electronic claim forms, and certain hospitals have already started to transfer their patient files to computer.

The Ministry of Health announced last year that it would introduce the Wareed system, which would electronically link all the hospitals and clinics in the Northern Emirates that fall under its jurisdiction. The system is still implemented in only a small number of hospitals.

Dr al Kaabi said the introduction of electronic medical records could be used to tighten up the procedures for reporting infectious disease.

“If all the files are electronic, there could be a system where a warning or reminder goes off when an infectious disease is diagnosed.

“This could be linked to the health authority and would not need the staff to do anything.”

Shamiso Fred, president of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology in the GCC and chair of the pandemic committee at SKMC, said infectious diseases and infection control in the region was a “closed book” for many years.

The H1N1 pandemic, she said, was a good test as it opened many people’s eyes to the importance of the issue.

She attributed the lack of reporting to the high turnover of medical staff and a lack of unified guidelines.

“Recently there have been quite a lot of changes and the situation is improving,” she said.

Ms Fred urged health bodies across the region to introduce comprehensive guidelines on a par with international standards.

Another doctor who works in a government hospital said health authorities should concentrate more on enforcing reporting rules for the “more common” infectious diseases, rather than diseases such as TB and HIV/Aids that can lead to deportation.

“It is about where you focus energies,” he said. “They are very strict about things such as HIV but do not seem as concerned with other diseases, so maybe some people think it does not matter?”

The Abu Dhabi Medical Congress was opened yesterday by Zaid al Siksek, the chief executive of the Health Authority–Abu Dhabi. The congress, which concludes tomorrow, was expected to attract more than 100 exhibitors from 20 countries.

 
 
Hidden wonder takes on the world

Bu Tinah’s spectacular array of species has won it protected status as part of the Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve. Sheikh Ahmad Bin Hamdan

ABU DHABI - OCT 12: The big stage is beckoning for a tiny archipelago off the capital thatis within touching distance of being voted one of the seven wonders of the natural world.

Bu Tinah, a cluster of low-lying islands surrounded by coral reefs and seagrass beds, is on a final shortlist of 28 locations, from which the wonders will be selected in a global poll.

The islands are out of bounds to the public, a move backed by law to ensure that their rare inhabitants, and the sea life around them, remain undisturbed.

But Bu Tinah’s natural treasures are about to be thrust into the spotlight in a push for votes from around the globe.

The area is home to marine turtles, dolphins, flamingos and several rare migratory birds such as the Socotra cormorant and species of tern.

It is also popular with the dugong, a large but peaceful and shy marine mammal that feeds on seagrass. About 600 out of the estimated 3,000 dugongs that live in UAE waters can be found around Bu Tinah.

The main island has a sheltered lagoon opening to the south, lined with mature mangroves.

The archipelago is part of the Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, which covers 4,000 square kilometres and is the largest protected area in the country.

Bu Tinah’s nature has already seen it win through two stages of the New7Wonders of Nature competition.

The contest was organised by the New7Wonders Foundation, a Swiss-based, government-controlled body. It began in 2007 with 440 locations in more than 200 countries.

The final phase sees Bu Tinah competing with such well-known places as the Maldives archipelago, the Galapagos in Ecuador, the Dead Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon in the United States.

The Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD) is to appoint an international marketing consultancy to promote the islands, before the final vote in 2011.

The agency is also negotiating with other government departments and media companies, trying to get them to join the canvassing.

Pages on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, and voting booths in some of the country’s shopping malls, will be part of the campaign.

“This will be an ongoing and evolving strategy,” said Dr Thabit al Abdessalaam, director of marine biodiversity management at the EAD. A short film, to be completed this month, will bring Bu Tinah and its exotic inhabitants closer to the public.

But besides having the support of UAE residents, Bu Tinah will have to captivate a global audience if it is to emerge as one of the winners. The competition was launched after the contest to find the man-made New Seven Wonders of the World, in which 100 million people voted.

“Bu Tinah is one of the least-known participants,” said Jean-Paul de la Fuente, a director of the N7W Foundation, on a visit to Abu Dhabi.

While Bu Tinah’s obscurity was a challenge, it was also an opportunity, he said.

Some world-famous sites, such as the Amazon rainforest, had been in the spotlight for much longer, said Mr de la Fuente. Such extensive scrutiny could spark a negative reaction.

“The Amazon comes with a lot of issues,” he said, mentioning deforestation, large-scale farming and the treatment of native tribes.

While the Amazon was “very famous but also controversial”, Bu Tinah had the opportunity to “tell its story on a clean, white canvas”.

“The other challenge is getting people to vote for Bu Tinah,” he said.

“It is not about the size or resources of the country but also how people are motivated to vote for the location.”

The UAE could use its position as a travel hub to promote Bu Tinah with tourists, business travellers and even transit passengers.

Another advantage was its expatriate residents. “This is a unique opportunity because all these people are potential ambassadors for Bu Tinah,” said Mr de la Fuente.

He said the campaign would promote environmental awareness “not in a boring way but in a very exciting way”.

“Often, the environmental message is a depressing one,” he said.

“We are asking people to celebrate nature and, inevitably, the result is that they will take more care.”

Bosses urged to keep eye on workers’ mental health

DUBAI - OCT 12: Early diagnosis of depression among workers can reduce the risk of suicide, some of the country’s largest employers have been told.

Mohitheen Batcha, corporate welfare manager for ETA Ascon Star, one of the country’s biggest construction companies, described mental health problems among workers as “a major issue for employers”.

He was speaking during a seminar at which several major construction companies, including Dulsco and Arabtec, stressed their commitment to their workers’ mental health.

Mr Batcha said ETA, which has 72,000 workers in the UAE, had measures in place to treat at-risk workers.

“Mental stress leads to low productivity, absenteeism, depression and a high rate of visa cancellations as workers are forced to return home due to family problems,” he said.

“Counselling sessions and a programme of sporting activities and excursions can help bring suicide rates down.

“Staff with psychiatric training can identify the signs of suicide. If employees are absent from work without illness, not socialising with roommates or have a loss of appetite, we identify them as ‘at risk’ and ensure they receive support.

“If depression goes unnoticed and medication is not prescribed then it can lead to suicide.”

The Government had acted on the issue and ETA wanted to show its support, said Mr Batcha.

“As well as counselling for workers, it is important to keep them motivated and in a healthy state of mind,” he said.

Figures on the number of suicides among construction workers were not available.

However, the Indian Consulate in Dubai reported 69 suicides among Indian expatriates in the UAE last year, with 118 in 2007.

The consulate, which jointly hosted the seminar with ETA, provides a counselling service for Indian expatriate workers, who make up a large proportion of Dubai’s labourers.

As well as leading construction companies, more than 30 banking, information technology and hospitality businesses were represented at the meeting.

Dr Mohamed Hassan Fayek, the head of psychiatry at Rashid Hospital, and a senior official at the Dubai Health Authority, said: “Employers should not wait for treatment of the mentally ill. By this stage it may be too late for the individual. Instead, they should focus on prevention.”

Mr Batcha said the seminar had “encouraged other companies to provide multilingual welfare officers at labour camps to serve the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Nepalese workers”.

Sharjah Cement Factory presented a cost-benefit analysis that showed how a counselling service resulted in a significant increase in worker productivity.

The programme being pushed is based on the World Health Organisation’s Promoting Mental Health report, which encouraged countries to give mental health the same importance and investment as physical health.

The report highlighted low-income workers and immigrant communities as particularly vulnerable groups.