Dubai: The Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS) handled a total of 604 patients on Dubai roads on New Year’s Eve, a top official told Gulf News.
Khalifa Hassan Al Darrai, ceo of Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS), said: “We managed 604 patients between 2pm on December 31, 2018 and 3 am on January 1, 2019. These cases came from different parts of Dubai, including a large number from the Downtown area around Burj Khalifa.”
Giving a breakdown of the numbers, Al Darrai said of the total patients attended by DCAS on New Year’s Eve, 15 were serious in nature where patients had to be rushed to hospitals. “Another 113 were what we call yellow or moderate cases, while 476 were green or minor cases,” he explained.
“The serious cases presented cardiac, respiratory and other problems.
"Moderate issues included cases where patients had chest pain, breathing problems, hypertension, etc. Minor cases pertained to cuts and bruises,” he told Gulf News.
Burj Khalifa area
On New Year’s Eve and early New Year morning, there were 164 patients attended by DCAS in and around Burj Khalifa area alone. “Luckily there were no major red or emergency cases here and most of the people who complained only suffered minor injuries like cuts and wounds,” said Darrai.
Giving a breakdown, Al Darrai said 21 patients in the area had moderate complaints like dizziness, breathing problem among others, while 143 had minor cuts and bruises.
Joint effort in Burj Khalifa area
“Usually crowd management is under the jurisdiction of Dubai Police. But in Burj Khalifa we had a joint control room set up where we had three of our representatives working alongside Dubai Police and Dubai Civil Defence.
Other medical cases
Besides Burj Khalifa area, the DCAS dealt with 203 patients at other New Year events across Dubai such as Burj Al Arab, Global Village, Atlantis The Palm etc.
“Our staff was out on the roads in full force that night. A total of 155 ambulances and 1,150 doctors, paramedics, medical dispatchers and other staff of DCAS were on duty to ensure that every part of Dubai was successfully covered,” he said.
Al Darrai said the number of cases recorded on New Year’s eve had gone down from last year because there were more awareness among people. “For DCAS we are happy we dealt with lesser number of cases.
“The crowds were more dispersed and things were more organised this year and we had easier access to the happening areas.”
