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Hospital bill paid, baby Mohammed returns home
Hospital bill paid, baby Mohammed returns home Nivriti Butalia / 22 January 2014 Premature baby discharged after a bill of over Dh170,000 at Al Baraha Hospital settled with the help of hundreds of KT readers. Infant of the fortnight, little Mohammed has finally come home. Born nearly three months ago on October 25, 2013, Mohammed — who, incidentally, shares a birthday with his father, Sayed — was discharged on Tuesday morning after a bill of over Dh170,000 was finally settled, thanks to donations by hundreds of KT readers. Mohammed’s father Sayed, along with his trusted aide and friend Mazher marched out of the ICU wing of Al Baraha Hospital in Deira — baby swaddled in a white and blue blanket in Sayed’s arms, Mazher lugging Sayed’s backpack and another polybag of baby-things, headed towards Mazher’s car. Staff of the hospital clicked photographs of Mohammed and Sayed as they left the hospital premises. There were no other family members present. “I never want to see another hospital, another ICU. I never again want to see hospital lights,” an exhausted but relieved Sayed told Khaleej Times . “If I sit down I will fall asleep,” he smiled, explaining why he won’t take a seat in the waiting room while the paper work wound up. Grateful for all the help that has come his way, Sayed kept repeating to all well-wishers and people in the hospital who were stopping to congratulate him for being able to take his baby home: “Alhumdullilah… Alhumdullilah (All praise and thanks be to Allah)”. The X-ray technicians and the security guards are now his friends. The nurses admire his fortitude. At the reception, the burqa-clad ladies think he’s not like the others. They talk of his virtues — “so patient, so decent, not screaming and shouting like others”. Sayed is most looking forward to Wednesday morning when his mother, sister and baby daughter arrive in Dubai. They are coming to basically, take over and provide some relief in childcare duties, to help out Sayed. Except that he has to work a night shift, Sayed is eagerly awaiting his daughter’s reaction to her baby brother whom she has never met. “I want to catch it on video,” he says in Hindi. He wants to see if she does her trademark thing of gingerly prodding a new specimen — in this case, her new baby brother, and then recoiling in glee, as if given an electric shock. That’s the moment he’s waiting for. Although Mohammed has been diagnosed with Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA) — a hole in the heart — that doctors have told him is treatable, Sayed is feeling “90 per cent better and more optimistic” than last week. Besides being indebted to donors who came forward with the money, Sayed is indebted to his friend Mazher — who has turned his voice hoarse fielding phone calls all day, incurring the wrath of his manager at work since instead of being in office, he’s been by the side of his friend in hospital all of last week. nivriti@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Youth have an important role to play : Shaikh Mohammed
Youth have an important role to play : Shaikh Mohammed (Wam) / 21 January 2014 Mohammed attends graduation of UAE Assessors Programme and Excellence Experts Diploma students Shaikh Mohammed, Shaikh Saif, Shaikh Mansour and Shaikh Abdullah with the graduates at the ceremony in Abu Dhabi. — Wam His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has highlighted the importance of training young Emiratis. He made the remarks while attending the graduation day of 120 graduates of the UAE Assessors Programme and Excellence Experts Diploma. Speaking to the graduates, Shaikh Mohammed said: “Our country needs your efforts to walk towards achieving the national march steadily and confidently and drawing new reality for government action and the establishment of the Future Government; our confidence in you is great as you possess all the components of success. “We are proud to develop governmental work with Emirati hands and we are doing our best to prepare Emirati people and enable them in accordance with the requirements of the next phase of national work to achieve the national vision 2021.” Also present at the ceremony held at the Presidential Palace, were Lt.-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; and Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, and other ministers. The Shaikh Khalifa Government Excellence Programme organised the graduation day of the first batch of Excellence Programmes: Excellence Experts Diploma for Federal Entities and the U.A.E. Assessors Programme for non-federal entities, as part of the programme’s initiatives in spreading the culture of excellence, supporting continuous learning and capacity building. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Series of measures to stimulate Dubai’s hospitality sector
Series of measures to boost Dubai’s hospitality Issac John / 21 January 2014 Fee waivers and reduced approval timeline for three and four star hotel projects to further stimulate the growth of its vibrant hospitality sector. Dubai has initiated a series of bold new measures and incentives including fee waivers and reduced approval timeline for three and four star hotel projects to further stimulate the growth of its vibrant hospitality sector. His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, on Monday pronounced a string of directives to this effect to offer exciting new opportunities for hotel investors. A prime focus of the move is to cut red tape to expedite the approval process for three and four star hotel projects. The range of incentives includes the allocation of government land at favourable rates and an exemption from fee for change-of-use of land for hotel construction. For three and four star hotels that begin operations before June 2017, there will also be an extension of the period of exemption from the 10 per cent Dubai Municipality fee to five years from the previously four years. The directives, which were made in response to recommendations raised by Dubai’s private sector hotel developers during a consultation workshop, will act as a catalyst to the booming hospitality sector and help bolster the industry’s room capacity in time for hosting over 25 million visitors expected for World Expo 2020. According to Dubai Tourism Vision 2020, the city needs to double its hotel inventory to around 164,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms within the next seven years. In 2013, Dubai has added around 3,000 new hotel rooms to its inventory. Dubai, the regional hub for hospitality, tourism and shopping, is the world’s biggest growing market outside of China since 2008 in terms of new hotel openings. The city has been named a top-10 global destination for business, leisure and shopping tourists, in a research exercise by Genesis Consulting ME. Hotels in Dubai exceeded the regional and national average and recorded a 9.9 per cent growth in average daily rate to $290.68. In line with the directives, hotel construction pre-approval process period will henceforth be reduced to two months (currently the approval process for private developers ranges from three to six months); a one-stop-shop for all sector approvals to be created (a single streamlined system will be managed by the Dubai Municipality to help reduce red tape for businesses and ensure the new reduced approval timeframes are met); approval processes of planning permission for all hotel establishments in the emirate to be standardised through the Dubai Municipality (currently some free zones manage their own building regulation approval processes for hotels in areas across Dubai. These will now be moved to Dubai Municipality); Government land to be allocated for the development of three-star and four star hotels; Dubai Municipality and government-linked master developers will work with Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) to identify key locations for hotels at favourable investment terms. Incentives to help ensure the development of more three and four star hotels that Dubai will need by 2020 to meet the growth in visitor numbers include: no fees on change-of-use of land for hotel usage, and the establishment of a special committee to review the re-zoning of plots: and an additional year of exemption of the 10 per cent Dubai Municipality fee for any three and four star hotels which begin operating before June 2017, based on the hotel Incentive initiative announced by DTCM in September 2013. The consultation workshop of private sector hotel developers was organised and hosted by DTCM and Dubai Municipality on January 16. It was attended by representatives of key investors in the hospitality sector, including Al Habtoor Group, Al Futtaim Group, Al Ghurair Group, Rotana Group, Dubai Holding and Emaar. The workshop was designed to discuss the Tourism Vision for 2020, including the recent positive growth in the hospitality sector in terms of visitor numbers and hotel openings, to identify barriers-to-entry currently being faced by hotel investors and to find solutions to further stimulate the sector, particularly in the three and four star segment, as Dubai prepares to welcome more than 20 million annual visitors by 2020. Hussain Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said in partnership with public and private sectors, Dubai will identify opportunities for streamlining in the hotel development sector. “Our aim is to continue Dubai’s journey, to further progress from our position as the region’s leading tourism and business destination to being recognised as a global leader in trade and tourism. To achieve this, we will demand and help our partners to deliver world-class buildings standards and to create an environment of high quality, sustainable growth.” Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of the DTCM, said collaboration and consultation between the public and private sector is essential to ensure delivery of the infrastructure, accommodation, events and attractions needed to meet not only the current growth of the tourism sector but also the ambitious future growth. “The directives offer new and exciting opportunities for hotel investors. They will act as a stimulus to the sector and help to broaden our current accommodation offering, particularly within the three and four star segment, which is needed to meet the targets outlined in the Dubai Tourism Vision for 2020,” said Almarri. issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
