From the editors: Successful, critical kidney surgery in Dubai a confirmation of UAE’s pioneering role in health care

SUCCESSFUL, CRITICAL KIDNEY SURGERY IN DUBAI A CONFIRMATION OF UAE’S PIONEERING ROLE IN HEALTH CARE In yet another instance of Dubai and the UAE’s unfailing commitment towards citizens, residents and even visitors in offering cutting-edge health-care facilities, a patient flown in from Baghdad underwent a critical surgery at a Dubai hospital to remove a cancerous tumour from his left kidney. Though the nature of the ailment was not unusual, it was the sheer weight of the tumour – 1.8kg -- that was the worrying factor. However, the entire medical team involved with the procedure handled the surgery extremely well, ensuring that the patient was on a path to full recovery post-surgery. The very fact that a patient in far-off Baghdad, Iraq, was flown all the way to Dubai in an air ambulance for a critical surgical procedure speaks volumes about the kind of importance Dubai wields as a health-care destination and the confidence it instils in the minds of patients and the medical fraternity alike for handling critical surgical procedures. (COMMENT BY Sanjib Kumar Das, Assistant Editor)

A WAKE-UP CALL TO ANTI-VAXXERS Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the US now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, according to analysis by the Associated Press. US government data from May showed that infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for about 0.1 per cent of cases. A former adviser to the US administration on COVID-19, suggested that 98 to 99 per cent of the Americans dying of the coronavirus are unvaccinated. It is a demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to less than 300 — could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine. This great news is a wake-up call to those who are opposed to vaccination and also who are hesitant to take the shots. We are all responsible in this fight against the pandemic. (COMMENT BY Stephen N.R., Senior Associate Editor- World & ME)

29 YEARS OF KING KHAN Actor Shah Rukh Khan is celebrating 29 years of being in Bollywood, and has thanked fans for their support. Khan has been largely off the big screen for a few years but still holds the attention of millions around the world thanks to his other ventures and strong social media presence. The star has a few movies lined up for release soon, and people are waiting with bated breath to see him feature in a film again. Let’s hope that Khan can make his movie comeback a good one – he deserves it and so do his patient fans. (COMMENT BY Jennifer Barretto, Assistant Editor – Features)

UEFA SCRAPS AWAY GOALS RULE, WILL WE SEE MORE BORING GAMES? From the start of the 2021/22 season, Uefa will abolish the away goals rule in European club football. The rule has been in use since 1965 and it decided drawn two-legged games by giving the win to the team that had scored more away goals. But now, an away goal will not carry more weight. If a game is still level on aggregate it will go into extra time and if needed, be decided on a penalty shootout. Now, this has the potential to go in one of two ways – obviously penalties are exciting to watch and we all look forward to them but does it mean teams will just play for penalties from the onset meaning the actual games will be cagey and defensive and lack goals? There is a risk of teams returning to negative tactics. At least with the away goals rule both teams knew what they needed to do to begin with and had an incentive to score, but penalties will be just like a lottery and could ruin the game. (COMMENT BY Imran Malik, Assistant Editor)