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Majority of cases at Rashid Hospital’s trauma centre result of road accidents

While marking the first anniversary of the RHTC at the hospital premises yesterday, the Director-General of Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms), Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, said though the centre was designed to treat a maximum of 85,000 patients in a year, it had exceeded it’s limit and already treated 140,000 cases.

“What has been worrying is that trauma cases due to accidents topped the list of the common cases received by RHTC, followed by worksite accidents,” said the official, without citing any statistics. He also said that cardiac emergencies also made up a majority of the cases received at RHTC.

Al Murooshid also announced that a bigger trauma centre to accommodate a larger number of patients would soon be constructed in Jebel Ali. “We are still in the designing stages, but an announcement will be made in this regard soon,” he added.

Dr Moeen Fikree, Clinical Director and Consultant Emergency Physician RHTC said that, at present, bed occupancy in Rashid Hospital alone was at 92 per cent. “We are always full and trying to adjust bed capacity,” said Dr Fikree.

He also said that 840 staff were working at the trauma centre which received between 400-500 patients per day. “The total staff in Rashid Hospital is 2,450 while the total number of doctors, including specialists is 380,” he explained. He also said that the total number of nurses in the hospital and trauma centre was 1,200 with another 300 being hired. “Out of this number 460 nurses are working only in the RHTC,” he added.

In January 2006, InterHealth Canada was awarded the contract to provide leadership to the trauma centre and Rashid Hospital. It began working closely on a plan to open the new centre comprising an Emergency Department (ED), a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), two surgical wards, and operation theatres.

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