DUBAI RESIDENTS TO BE TRAINED TO SAVE LIVES
dubai — Residents in Dubai would soon be trained to save lives in emergency situations, a top official has revealed to Khaleej Times. Community service centres would come up across neighbourhoods in the emirate, where residents would be trained.
The average time of four minutes taken for paramedics to reach emergency sites does not ensure a life is saved and that’s the reason residents are being trained, said Dr Omar Sakkaf, director of medical and technical affairs at the Dubai Centre for Ambulance Services.
The aim is to deploy medics within the community. Residents would be trained and allowed to volunteer as medics under a new ‘Good Samaritan Law’ that is being drafted. “The law is almost ready and once it is passed, people can become life-savers,” he said on the sidelines of the three-day Dubai International Ambulance Conference that began on Monday.
The draft federal law would allow bystanders or the general public to help those in an emergency situation without being held accountable.
Drafted loosely on the international Good Samaritan Law, the draft law has been tailored for the UAE and states that “no criminal or civil appeal shall be made to any person who has provided in good faith assistance or relief to another person who is in an emergency situation”.
Dr Sakkaf also said that by 2020, medical services in Dubai would be “completely changed” as the focus would be on predicting treatment through artificial intelligence even before a patient makes a call.
First responders are crucial in any emergency. They save the day and lives. The UAE will soon have trained first responders in communities who will assist victims of accidents before paramedics and doctors arrive. The role is community-based, which could mean the difference between life and death. It could be someone from your family, a friend, or even a colleague. The initiative could be the first of its kind in the Middle East. Through Community Service Centres, the government is putting health and safety on top of the agenda, and is telling residents that help is at hand but you don’t need to just stand there and watch when someone needs support. Step out and take charge until ambulance and other life-saving services arrive. Safety begins with us and we are to take responsibility, is the message Dubai is sending out with this effort to empower people to become life-savers. It’s call to action for a noble cause and shows Dubai’s commitment to its residents. More importantly, this city puts human potential above everything else. People are capable of accomplishing daunting tasks if they are prepared and trained.
This brings us to the Good Samaritan Law, an internationally recognised piece of legislation that protects the role of people who help others in trouble like someone who is injured and needs medical attention. Many people look the other way. There is fear of an investigation and other complicated legal procedures. The UAE will soon roll out a version of this law to give helpers in society legal protection if they decide to roll up their sleeves and save a life. It’s the natural thing to do, but many count the costs of their righteous deeds. It has been reported that 70 to 90 per cent of people hesitate to assist someone who is battling for life, or who has been injured in an accident — a shocking statistic. Which makes us wonder what happened to humanity? Many like to help from a distance. This move by Dubai is a call to action, to save lives, to make a difference to society. We hope it makes us more humane.