RCA to rush medical team to take care of stranded truck drivers

Abu Dhabi: The Red Crescent Authority (RCA) is stepping up its humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of
truck drivers stranded between the Ghuweifat border crossing and Saudi's Batha checkpoint.

The truckers have been waiting for several days to complete clearance formalities for crossing into Saudi Arabia.

Saleh Mohammad Al Mualla, RCA Secretary General, said that a team of volunteer doctors, first aid medics and food providers would be mobilised to join another team on the ground to deliver assistance to the drivers.

There are fears of the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian and health situation of the drivers due to the blistering desert heat in an area that has little in the way of basic services.

Al Mualla said that snacks as well as drinking water and beverages were distributed to the stranded drivers of trucks, stretching 32 kilometres from the Ghuweifat border crossing centre.

"In view of the dangerous humanitarian situation thousands of truckers are facing now, two ambulances and volunteer paramedics to the Ghuweifat border check point will provide health care to the drivers who could be struck by heat exhaustion and related health problems due to long exposure to direct desert sunlight," he said.

"A food rationing team will provide free food parcels to the stuck drivers," he added.

"The suffering of the truckers calls for the immediate removal of obstacles they face primarily during this difficult summertime when the temperature soars to highly dangerous degrees, causing life-threatening heat exhaustion if no adequate first aid is offered on time," Al Mualla warned.