New five-year UAE visa: A great step for growth
It is heartening to note that the UAE government has approved a five-year multiple-entry tourist visa for promoting tourism as a part of ensuring UAE’s growth strategy in a long range plan of 50 years (“New UAE visa rule: Six-month stay proposed for 5-year tourist visa holders”, Gulf News, January 7). Further health research is given more importance to ensure medical accountability and for creating a national cancer registry to coordinate the findings with international health organisations. It is also noted that the cabinet has approved a system to monitor the solar energy usage in the country to the maximum extent possible to reduce the cost in producing power as it is at present.
Over the above, as a feather in the cap, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department has declared, in order to respect all human beings and ensure fair services and justice whoever they are irrespective of their religion, nationality, background, or culture, will have to be treated equally in the UAE. It should be ensured that everyone gets justice equally. Hence, the government has stated that there will be a Dh 1million penalty and a five-year year jail term for religious bigotry.
All countries must follow these good intentions of the Rulers of the UAE so that people can live in peace in every part of the globe and concentrate on the development of their nations.
From Mr S. Sridharan
India
Better safety measures
It baffles me that there are no health and safety measures regarding balconies and windows in multi-storey buildings (“Balcony deaths in UAE: How can we stop the tragedies?”, Gulf News, January 4). The fact windows open fully is baffling and that balconies are easily accessible, is also a cause for concern. Parents are responsible to watch their children but it is also the responsibility of construction companies to provide preventive and safety measures.
From Ms Amanda Bailey Hudson
UAE
Facebook comment
Balconies should be off limits
Building owners should not allow parents with children less than 14 years to have a room with a balcony in a high-rise building. Even if they have older children, it is important for them to have a protective grill or fencing in place to prevent accidents.
From Ms Sakina Fakhr Al Deen
UAE
Facebook comment
Ensuring safety is a must
I think the fault lies with the parent and the construction of most high-rise buildings around the world. Parents need to keep an eye on their children. When children are little they are curious. They want to open things, move around and explore, making it imperative to keep an eye on them. At the same time, houses should be constructed in such a way that windows and balcony door handles are out of reach from small children. Parents should also try and restrict the use of the balcony in front of their children so that there is no temptation created to open it and look outside. There should be locks and barriers created so that the access children have to such windows is minimal. It’s a hard task, but needs to be done in order to ensure the safety of children.
From Ms Alia S.
Dubai
Other safety concerns
It’s all about educating the public on the importance of safety measures. Not letting your children go on to the balcony without an adult, putting safety rails is needed. Also can we also discuss the lack of better child-safe seatbelts in cars? Again, education and changing the norms is essential.
From Ms Dana Hurrell
UAE
Facebook comment
Parents need to be alert
Parents must be alert all the time, especially if they have small children at home. All safely precautions should be taken into consideration like covering the balcony, keeping balcony doors locked at all times, and to not keep any high chairs or tables in balconies. Children must be educated about the dangers in and around the house.
From Mr Qassim Abdullah
UAE
Facebook comment
Out of reach, out of danger
A parent’s attention on their child is a must. But also, putting grills and fences for balconies is needed. If this can’t be done then parents should put child-proof locks to keep the balcony doors locked at all times and out of the child’s reach.
From Ms Suhana Faruquee
UAE
Facebook comment
Accidents keep happening
In high-rise buildings, grills and covered balconies need to be made mandatory for all families with children. Or simply stop giving houses on rent which have balconies to families by law. Windows grills should be made mandatory. That’s the only way. Cause these incidents occur frequently even after spreading awareness.
From Ms Saba Kaipa
UAE
Don’t spew venom online
We keep fighting with each other but never with the elected governments of India who are the reason for our current state of affairs (“Delhi Police begins probe into JNU violence”, Gulf News, January 6). It’s easy to sit comfortably in an air conditioned room and spew venom online. You really don’t want your children to be admitted in a hospital like this right? Think about that before you support bigotry.
From Mr Amlur M.
UAE
Investigate politicians
We fully endorse the views of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K. S. Alagiri that a detailed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe be done into the allegations that V.K. Sashikala, the close aide of the late All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo Jayalalitha, transacted huge sums of money through illegal means. So should be the case with all our elected representatives, who have multiplied their
worth during the five years of their tenure in the assembly and Parliament. There are some members who at the time of filing of papers for elections declared their worth to be just a few lakh rupees, but are able to triple that amount in the next elections. How has their worth of income multiples? This should be investigated.
From Mr N. Viswanathan
India
Poor healthcare in India
The death of more than 100 children in government run J.K. Lon Hospital in Kota in India has struck a note of alarm about the prevailing state of healthcare in government hospitals, which is a matter of great concern (“Hospital where 105 children died in India dysfunctional, report finds”, Gulf News, January 4). It points to a deeper crisis prevailing in the healthcare system in India. What has happened in Kota, India, is a big tragedy for parents.
India needs to upgrade its primary and secondary segments of healthcare in the country because they are the first point of treatment for patients, hence they need to be better equipped with better resources. This ensures that the first response to a critical cases is adequately met.
The death of children at these government run territorial hospitals is a stark reminder that we must not take such tragedies lightly. The government must get to the bottom of the problem, so that we can prevent future tragedies. They should assess the infrastructural gaps and take measures to prevent further deaths.
It is time the Kota tragedy should work as a wake-up call to strengthened government healthcare system. If government hospitals are managed and utilised properly, it is a blessing for the poor and the needy, as they can’t go to private hospitals due to high charges.
Hence it is imperative that the plight of patients necessitates immediate action.
We must remember city of Kota has a strong reputation of having large number of reputed Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) coaching classes and the existence of decay at government hospitals like J.K. Lon Hospital represent the stark contrasts in India’s development story.
I hope the government will rise to the occasion and the Opposition will act responsibly, rather than getting involved in blame-game politics. At the end of the day, it is the poor of India who suffer the most.
From Mr. Ramesh G. Jethwani
Bengaluru, India
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