Dubai Police monitor heart patients
Did you know that Dubai Police have an emergency response programme to help heart patients?
dubai — For someone who is having a heart attack, every second counts, and emergency response is a matter of life and death. But if you are in Dubai, the police can assure you of speedy ambulance service, even if you call the emergency number 999 and don’t say anything at all.
Since 2007, the Dubai Police — in collaboration with the Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services and private hospitals — have been implementing an emergency response programme for heart patients.
“In a cardiac arrest, the first 60 minutes are very crucial for treatment. This is why we have a special service to save their lives,” said Lieutenant-Engineer Ahmed Al Najjar from the Dubai Police Operations Department.
“All heart patients must register for this programme so that in case of any emergency, an ambulance can reach them in less than five minutes.
“During the registration, the patients need to provide their address, phone number and their emergency contact details. All this information makes it easy for us to
quickly send an ambulance, fully equipped for heart diseases, and rescue them.”
A total of 2,581 heart patients were registered for the service by 2017; 2,874 by 2018; and as of October 1, 3,088 heart patients were already logged in the Dubai Police’s Command Control Centre.
The patient can register by logging into the Dubai Police app or their website and going to the ‘heart patient services’ tab.
Once the person has filled in all the information, his or her location will pop up as a ‘heart’ in the police’s GPS.
Pointing to a giant screen at Dubai Police’s Command Control Centre that showed thousands of pink hearts on the map of Dubai,
Al Najjar said: “In case of an emergency, the patient can reach out to us by using the SOS option on the Dubai Police app or by simply calling us at 999. They can just call us and hang up without saying anything or someone else can also call us on their behalf.
“If the patient is on the move, through his registered mobile number we can find out his exact location using GPS tracker.”
At any given time, Dubai Police have 70 ambulances and 127 patrol cars.
“We have installed 15,000 cameras to view all the areas in Dubai. Using these cameras, we can know if there’s anything wrong. We also get information from the policemen on the ground,
pedestrians and bystanders,” the officer said. The service is not just limited to UAE residents. Tourists, who suffer from heart diseases, can also register by providing their international phone number.
In certain cases when there’s a fire and a heart patient needs to be rescued, the Dubai Police go the extra mile. “Using a drone, we can send him a live message such as ‘please stay calm, we will rescue you soon’. We do this because on seeing the fire, the patient may have an increase in heartbeat and high blood pressure. Knowing that help is on its way, he will get some relief.”
Besides heart patients, the programme also covers seniors and people of determination.
In a cardiac arrest, the first 60 minutes are very crucial for treatment. This is why we have a special service to save their lives.” Lieutenant-Engineer Ahmed Al Najjar, Dubai Police Operations Department