I was going about my business on this street in Al Baraha area, Deira Dubai, when I bumped into some men sleeping on a pavement in broad daylight. The men, who looked to me like casual labourers, seemed to have been working at an adjacent construction site and decided to take a midday nap. But it is the choice of their resting place that appalled me!
As I stood there for a few minutes and marvelled at this sight, I couldn’t stop asking myself some questions; were they aware of the health risks they were exposing themselves to? Were none of the passersby concerned to speak to them of the risks? But alas, everyone went about as if nothing was wrong.
This part of Deira is known to be heavily congested with buildings and human population, especially at peak hours and also has a reputation to be a place where people have a ‘culture’ of spitting freely especially on the streets.
This in my opinion might have contributed to the spread of communicable airborne diseases and ailments. So to see grown men lying on a pavement was mind boggling to say the least.
If such ignorance goes on unchecked, then I am afraid efforts to fight some diseases may prove futile and many people will be at risk of falling sick, which in turn will affect the economy among many other areas in life.
Be safe because prevention is always better than cure.
The reader is a freelance writer based in Dubai.
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