Page 291 - UAE Truncal States
P. 291

Chapter Sevan

                 Medical facilities
                 In 1949 an Indian Muslim, Dr Muhammad Yasin, practising in Dubai,
                 who had been employed by the British Government in India  , was
                 succeeded by Colonel D. McCaully, a doctor who had retired from the
                 Indian Army. Dr McCaully was engaged by the British Government
                 to run the first hospital on the Trucial Coast (the Maktum Hospital,
                 opened in 1950 with 30 beds), built in Dubai for the benefit of the
                 population of all the Trucial Slates. The cost of the initial building
                 with 38 beds and the cost of a doctor were borne by the British
                 Government; the running costs were shared among all the Rulers of
                 the Trucial Stales, the biggest share being paid by the Ruler of
                 Dubai.40 All the Rulers  were  members of the Al Maktum Hospital
                 Committee.47
                   The impact which the development of the health services has had
                 on the quality of life in the City Slate for almost every one of its
                 residents is illustrated by the fact that before the Second World War
                 a sick person who needed modern medical help had to travel by boat
                 to India, which few inhabitants of Dubai could afford. Now people
                 travel to Dubai from neighbouring countries to obtain treatment in
                 the Rashid Hospital. Yet a large hospital does not provide the full
                 answer to health care among the local and immigrant communities
                 whose health problems were and sometimes still are the result of
                 draughty homes, indigenous pests, and a lack of appreciation of
                 hygiene.
                   In parallel with the building of hospitals all the other aspects of a
                 modern health service were being attended to. The government of
                 Dubai, the Trucial States Council and international agencies such
                 as the World Health Organisation organised mass vaccination,40
                 regular checks on school children, and public health education
                 programmes; the municipality improved on rubbish collection,
                 pest control and food-handling standards in the market and the
                 slaughterhouse; and eventually the new media, radio, television, and
                 newspapers, were used to instil an awareness of the causes and the
                 remedies of ill-health. In the planning of health care facilities in
                Dubai it was essential to take into consideration the structure of the
                society and the difference in attitude between the local and the
                various immigrant communities. Even after the well-equipped
                Rashid Hospital was opened,49 many people still preferred to go to
                the old-established, centrally-located, smaller Maktum Hospital or to
                an outpatient clinic built in the centre of Dubai. During the 1970s
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