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A paramedic for the love of it

“It’s exciting and keeps me on the move,” says the polite paramedic.

Though officially working from 5.30am to 1.30pm, Saeeda says she hardly gets a chance ever to leave for home on time. Saeeda is among the seven men and women who are the first group of nationals to have joined the Dubai Ambulance Centre as paramedics. “I joined DAC three months ago after attending a training course for four years in Dubai Women’s College,” she says.

A normal working day for Saeeda is normally being on call 24 hours. “The Dubai Police’s Operations Room alerts us by sending messages or calling us in case there is an accident. We gather outside the centre and the shift manager then decides who will rush to the spot and who will be in the back-up,” she explains.

Within 10 minutes, we have to check the ambulance to make sure that all the apparatus is in working order before the vehicle leaves for the accident spot, says Saeeda who comes from a family of five brothers and four sisters.

“If the accident or fire is major, the commander will keep the safety checks in place before we are allowed to start the rescue,” she points out.

“And if the people involved in the accident scene are critical, then we start immediate first aid to control bleeding, if any, provide oxygen and so on. Later, while rushing to a nearby hospital, we administer IV fluids to the patient until they are in safe hands.” Paramedics in Dubai are required to move from station to station on a rotation basis. “I haven’t felt discriminated against on the basis of being a female in the workplace. Though the work is strenuous, I am enjoying what I am doing,” she says.

For Saeeda, it is her family’s support that ignited her interest in the job. “My father is especially very supportive. It can be an odd hour when I get a call for work, but no one ever complains in my family, they understand,” she says.

“Whenever, I am posted to a station in Dubai city which sees less activity, I am very bored,” she moans, adding that she will never give up working as a paramedic.

• UAE