Dubai: The third Airport Medical Centre opened on Tuesday in response to the rapid growth in the number of passengers at the Dubai International Airport and to reduce the current emergency response time of seven minutes to under five minutes.
According to the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), which also manages the two existing centres at the Airport, more than 60 million passengers used the Airport in 2012. This figure is estimated to cross 90 million by 2015.
The new centre, inaugurated in the presence of DHA Director-General Engineer Eisa Al Maidour, is located on Concourse A, part of Terminal 3.
The new Airport Medical Centre will continue to cater to passengers, crews and more than 60,000 airport staff, offering 24-hour medical assistance in life-threatening medical and/or severe trauma cases as well as the transfer of critically ill patients.
Each centre has the capacity to cater to 300 patients per week. With the opening of the new centre, the capacity of patients will increase to 900 per week. The centres have an advanced, remote-controlled medical stretcher system that can be manoeuvred easily in an aircraft.
Speaking exclusively to Gulf News, Dr Abdullah Al Naqbi, director of the Airport Medical Centres said that there was need to lessen the load on the existing two centres and increase capacity to cater to an increasing number of passengers.
“Through the new centre, our aim is also to reduce our emergency response time to under five minutes from seven minutes. The increased capacity [all three centres] now totals 18 medical staff and 78 nursing staff,” he said.
Of the mortality rate, he said in 2012 there were 21 cases. “We hope to decrease the number this year,” said Dr Al Naqbi.
He explained that several measures are in place to equip staff to handle emergencies. “There are 55 wall mounted CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) devices to save cardiac arrest victims. Select airport staff has been trained to use these. Last year more than 12 cases benefited.”
He added, the new centre will apply in November for the international accreditation by Joint Commission International (JCI), an independent, not-for-profit organisation, which accredits and certifies health care providers that achieve the highest quality. On the common medical situations handled, Dr Abdul Razzaq Hassan, medical in-charge at the Airport Medical Centre, told Gulf News that cases handled include gastrointestinal conditions like traveller’s diarrhoea, upper respiratory tract infections, seizures, trauma, cardiac arrest and asthma attacks.
“These are the most common with travellers complaining of abdominal or chest pain or difficulty in breathing,” said Dr Hassan.
In a media statement, Al Maidour said, “The plan is to expand our airport medical services to Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International Airport (AMIA) in Jebel Ali,” he said.
