Abu Dhabi: While most people in the city are in a festive mood and enjoying a long weekend holiday, there are those who sacrifice their holidays and celebrations and get busy serving the community on Eid day.
Gulf News went around Abu Dhabi and met a number of people who turned up for work as usual on Eid.
Abdul Gaffar, 40, from Pakistan, opened his men’s salon at 8am on the first day of Eid to serve customers. He said his outlet would remain open until the evening.
“Somebody has to take the responsibility to serve them, otherwise where will people go?” said Gaffar, of Sunflower Salon.
“Among people who are having a haircut today are our regular customers who had called and said they would want this service on Eid day. So it is important to be there for them,” said Gaffar, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 20 years. When Gulf News visited his salon at 11.30am, it was almost full with a large number of customers getting a haircut.
On Falah Street, at Taha Pharmacy, James Patrick Morden, said, “Not only on Eid holidays, but on all official holidays, we open our outlet to serve the customers.
“In fact, on holidays, many people [also] visit hospitals and, if any emergency were to occur on Eid, people need medicines and it’s our duty to provide them,” said Morden, who is from the Philippines.
He said that as people are in a festive mood and get together with family and friends, they often overindulge in food that causes gastric issues, hypertension or other problems for which they need medication after a visit to the doctor.
In many hospitals in the capital, doctors were on duty.
Dr Shanavas Khan, a cardiologist at Universal hospital in Abu Dhabi, said he had been on duty since Thursday. He said, “Our motto is to serve the community round the clock whether it is a working day or a holiday.
“For example, on Thursday evening, I received a patient who had suffered an acute heart attack and was immediately administered medication that saved his life,” Dr Khan said, who is from the southern Indian state of Kerala.
“There could be any kind of emergency, so we have to be on standby,” he said.
