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Holy Quran Park to open next September
Holy Quran Park to open next September Staff Reporter / 21 June 2013 The Dubai Municipality has announced a new theme park project called Holy Quran Park to be located in Al Khawaneej. Construction of the new public park has begun, meaning visitors should be able to experience the miracles of the Holy Quran by next September. The 60-hectare park, designed in the Islamic perspective and estimated to cost about Dh27 million depending on the final design, will introduce visitors to the miracles and stories of the Quran in an air-conditioned tunnel. Other facilities will include children’s play areas, an outside theatre, fountains, a lake, running-cycling-and-walking tracks, a palm oasis and an Islamic garden. The garden, along with a glass building, will showcase all plants mentioned in the holy book, including fig, pomegranate, olive, corn, leek, garlic, onion, lentil, barley, wheat, ginger, pumpkin, watermelon, tamarind, ceder, vineyards, bananas, cucumbers, and basil, in a bid to encourage people to think about why the plants are mentioned. General projects department director Mohammed Noor Mashroom said the initial site preparation works, tracks and service buildings had been completed. The second stage will start next month and end in July next year, while the third stage, starting in August 2014, was expected to be completed in September next year. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Drug price rise angers patients
Drug price rise angers patients Asma Ali Zain / 20 June 2013 Prices of hundreds of essential medicines will be reduced by June 30, announced a senior health official even as some medicines, mostly over-the-counter drugs such as cough syrups and painkillers, have become costlier since the start of the month. While a price cut in 6,600 chronic drugs of up to 40 per cent announced by the health ministry came into effect earlier last month, prices of a few other medicines by a couple of well-known brands were increased from between Dh2 and Dh150. Pharmacists have estimated the price increase at around 20 per cent. “We admit that the prices of certain medicines (around 329) have gone up…but this was not in our control largely due to dollarisation,” said Dr Amin Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licensing at the health ministry while speaking to Khaleej Times on Wednesday. “But we are in talks with the companies and I promise that prices of hundreds of medicines (not all at once) will be reduced by June 30,” he said. Dr Amiri, while referring to the price reduction announcement made by the ministry earlier this month said: “Though the decrease is seemingly nominal, the real achievement is that the ministry has not allowed an increase that could have been up to 40 per cent but has managed to keep the prices of about 5,000 products stagnant.” “This is a big success.” He said that the reductions had been done by the manufacturers. As per the increased prices of OTC drugs, a popular brand of painkillers (tablets) that was earlier available for Dh49.50, is now priced at Dh62. Likewise, multivitamins earlier priced at Dh30 are now available for Dh40 while a cough syrup earlier available for Dh11 now costs Dh13.50. A medicine for treatment of urine incontinency in children earlier cost Dh199 and is now priced at Dh340. Likewise a well-known folic acid brand has increased to Dh65 from Dh45. Pharmacists who spoke on condition of anonymity said that though the new prices of chronic drugs, including those to treat diabetes and hypertension were in place now, the applicable price cuts ranged between 50 fils to Dh1 only. “Patients ask for discounts but our profit margins are already less so it is now difficult to give any discounts,” said one pharmacist. Another pharmacist said that though the ministry price cuts were applicable on over 6,000 medicines, nearly 3,000 of those listed medicines were not being sold in individual, small scale pharmacies. “These medicines might be available for sale in pharmacies within hospitals, but we do not stock these drugs,” he explained. “So when patients ask us for the cheaper medicines that were promised, we have no suitable reply.” A number of patients said that their out-of-pocket spending on essential medicines had doubled. “I thought medicine prices had been reduced but my pharmacist has now also refused to give me a discount,” said Mohammed Sharif who now pays Dh2.50 extra for a cough and cold medicine that he had been using earlier. “For me to pay nearly Dh5 more for a particular brand of nasal drops that I use regularly is too much to afford…I will have to go for a cheaper medicine,” said Mariam Osman, who suffers from sinusitis. “These price increases are too high, especially for medicines that are used on a daily basis such as nasal drops and multivitamins,” she added. Bilal Ahmed, who has to consume folic acid daily, hoped that the price reductions would come soon. Dr Amiri said after implementation of price reductions, medicines in the UAE will be the lowest priced in the GCC region. asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Dubai resident kills deadly snake at home
Dubai resident kills deadly snake at home Amanda Fisher / 19 June 2013 In the last month, Adnan Farhat has faced a house fire, an excess load of unwanted whiteware deliveries and he has now had to kill a deadly snake. Khaleej Times wrote about the Al Warqa resident last week after he was inundated by deliveries for unsolicited goods. While those have now stopped, the drama has continued, when about 7pm on Monday evening, as he was in the garden with his family, he noticed a snake slithering up the stairs into his house. Farhat said he grabbed two brooms and cornered the snake, identified by Dubai Municipality Wildlife and Zoo specialist Dr Reza Khan as a saw-scaled viper — the most deadly in the country. Khan said it was “very rare” to find one of these snakes in human dwellings, with the non-venomous hissing sand snake a much more common discovery. “I held it (with a broom) and used the other one to hit it, but no matter how hard I was hitting, it was still trying to attack me…it was jumping, but it was killed eventually,” Farhat said, estimating the whole episode lasted about five minutes. Farhat, who said the snake was only about 45 centimetres long but very aggressive, said he had been scared to tackle the snake but he did not have any other option. “I didn’t lose my nerve. My kids and wife were around and they were all scared. I was the only one who could handle it, if I let it go, then it could go into the garden and become a bigger threat for us as well as our neighbours.” Farhat’s wife and four children, aged between eight and 17, were worried overnight as they had read online that other snakes would use their strong sense of smell and go to the location of a dead or wounded snake. “We did not know what to do after we killed it — if there’s one there maybe more around it, you never know.” When he spoke with the municipality officials on Monday evening, they had told him they would come to the house to inspect it and spray the area with a deterrent. By Tuesday evening no one had appeared and if they did not, he said he would contract a private company in an effort to keep any future stray snake from wandering in. “Some relatives, when I was moving to this area, warned me there could be snakes but I didn’t believe them…but now I believe it.” Farhat said for now he and his family were hoping the next drama to hit would be a positive one. Khan said while it was rare to hear of a snake being found in a house, those who lived in areas such as Al Khawaneej, Mirdif, Mushrif, Al Awir and areas beyond Jumeirah and the Mall of the Emirates “could expect a snake or two once in a while,” as these areas were built in their former habitat. “These (areas) were snake country during the 1990s.” There was also a seasonal pattern, with snakes moving from the sparse vegetation of the desert to human habitations in semi-desert areas with the advent of summer. However, there had not been a noticeable number of snake finds recently and sightings appeared to be becoming less frequent, he said. “In general, snake numbers are going down because human habitations or urbanisation takes over the land once occupied by snakes.” How to handle a snake Dubai Municipality Wildlife and Zoo specialist Dr Reza Khan advised anyone who found a snake in or near their homes to attempt to kill it with a strong stick. However, he underscored no one should kill snakes that are found in the desert, which is their natural habitat. Khan also requested people to take photos of the snakes and send them over to him through the municipality at info@dm.gov.ae , so he can identify the snakes. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
