UAE | Health
Dangerous ailments in deportation cells
The country's deportation jails are crammed with people suffering infectious diseases, according to a source from the Ministry of Interior.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:29 November 17, 2008
Dubai: The country's deportation jails are crammed with people suffering infectious diseases, according to a source from the Ministry of Interior.
The source said these sick entered the country on visit visas and overstayed, or those who did not go for medical checks which is mandatory for a residency visa. "Others infiltrated through one of the borders," he said.
Last week, a man suffering from tuberculosis, who spent more than a month in the deportation jail in Dubai, was sent to Rashid Hospital for treatment.
"The prisoner spent a month in the jail before his disease was discovered," a source at Rashid hospital said yesterday. "He went for a medical check for the visa process.
The medical check shows that he is infected with tuberculosis but the clinic where he had the medical check did not report it to the police or to the Residency Department," the source said.
The man was later reported as absconding and landed in the deportation cell. "The people managing the cell never knew that the man was infected with tuberculosis until a PRO [public relations officer] from the company approached them to release the man," the source said.
Another case is that of a woman who entered the UAE via the Hatta-Oman border. "The woman proved to be HIV positive," the source said. The woman was brought to the deportation cell, which informed the hospital.
The source from the Ministry of Interior said deportation cells are crammed with people with infectious diseases such as Aids, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, B and C, measles, typhoid and yellow fever.
The source added precautionary steps must be taken by authorities at all deportation cells to protect the jailors and the prisoners.
Prevention
He said that most of the officers in the cell have now taken vaccinations against infectious diseases.
Sources at Al Kuwait hospital in Sharjah said that infected people are locked up at the hospital if police reported them.
"We usually treat them till they are able to travel," he said.
"We cannot send any infected person back home till they prove negative because airlines will not allow infected people on board," he said.
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