DUBAI, 7 November 2005 — Theresa Seward-Case, who was expecting her first baby, had to be admitted to hospital three months before her due date because she was worried she might not reach the hospital in time for delivery due to the congestion that jams the streets of Dubai.
Gulf News daily quoted this six-month pregnant woman saying she was worried she might not reach Al-Wasl Hospital, a maternity hospital 45 minutes away by car, on time in case of an emergency.
Moreover, the hospital had made her sign a disclaimer freeing the hospital of any responsibility if she failed to reach them on time.
She lives in the Springs, one of the new residential areas in the outskirts of Dubai, a city that prides itself of world class facilities, modern highways and an open lifestyle that has attracted many Westerners as well as Asians seeking better jobs.
Gulf News also quoted Gayatri Soni, a first-time mum who has a newborn, saying she is constantly worried about the lack of a doctor or a medical center in the Springs.
The clinic closest to them, she thinks, is at Jebel Ali, which is also difficult to reach given the unpredictable traffic during peak hours.
“I don’t understand how the developers did not think or visualize the problem before building communities outside of the regular city. We need a clinic or a doctor living in the communities rather than swimming pools and gyms,” she said.
Residents from the Meadows, another residential area, and the Springs are increasingly waking up to on the ground realities as they raise the issue of the lack of medical and emergency services close to their communities.
Martin Seward-Case, spokesman of the Meadows and Springs Residents’ Association, was quoted as saying that “setting up emergency services for our residents is an important issue. We have 5,750 residences in the Meadows and Springs and we just don’t have a medical, fire or police facility in our area.”
“Currently, I would reckon it would take an hour for an ambulance during peak hours to reach us right now,” he said.
The Dubai government has earmarked up to $1.9 billion in spending on roads and bridges this year.
However, traffic department chief Brig. Nasser Al-Sayed Abdul Razzak warned that the city’s traffic problems would not be solved immediately, although there would be a revolution in road works over the next few years.
Dubai, one of the seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, is going through a construction boom of luxury housing which has attracted new residents to the city of 1.4 million inhabitants and with them more cars and more traffic jams, making driving a nightmare.
Dubai’s public transport is made up of few public buses and high temperatures all year long dissuade people from walking.
Nazir, a Springs association member, says there is an urgent need to provide proper services for the new developments.
“If the town planners do not come up with answers for the new properties, we are looking at a nightmarish situation in the next 12 months and more when the Palms (Islands), Marina and Dubailand become operational,” Springs resident Andy Dean said.
With 80 percent of the population made up of foreigners, there is not just one style of driving. Traffic rules are not always respected and daily traffic accidents in the main highways create further delays.
Graham Fryer, president of the International Association for Driver Education (IVV), said Dubai is a metropolis of multicultural people who come here with different perceptions of driving. “Drivers’ training and education can go toward the reduction of road traffic crashes,” he said.
The IVV has chosen Dubai to hold its biannual conference next year to promote save driving and will address the high traffic accident rate in Dubai.
According to a report released by the Dubai Police’s General Traffic Department, a total of 163 people were killed and 1,796 injured in traffic accidents in Dubai in the first nine months of 2005.
