A Dubai housemaid helped a woman to overcome her addiction to painkillers after she alerted the woman's mother who sought help from Dubai Police.
The 26-year-old woman fell into addiction after becoming involved with people who were a negative influence on her life.
She was divorced and lived with her 6-year-old son and housemaid in a house in Dubai, away from her family.
She reached the edge of collapse and the housemaid felt that she shouldn’t stand still
Col Abdullah Al Khayat,
Hemaya Centre
After the housemaid alerted the woman's mother to the addiction to painkillers, the mother contacted Hemaya International Centre, an affiliate of the General Department of Anti-Narcotics Department in Dubai Police, to ask for help.
The family were aware of the recent changes to the UAE’s Drug Law that allowed addicts to avoid legal punishment if they voluntarily gave themselves up to the police.
Col Abdullah Al Khayat, director of Hemaya International Centre, said the woman was a top student at university and graduated with a high score.
“She had a successful marriage until she met a group of negative friends who turned her life upside-down,” said Col Al Khayat.
"She used to tell them about her personal problems and they used to provoke her to make trouble. They lured her to become a drug addict and she ended her marriage."
After her divorce, she insisted on staying with her son and the housemaid and away from her family to hide her addiction.
“She reached the edge of collapse and the housemaid felt that she shouldn’t stand still," said Col Al Khayat.
"Some drugs cause hallucination that makes the person hear and see unreal things."
The mother took her daughter to Hemaya International Centre where experts referred her for rehabilitation and treatment.
“Family members usually deny they have a drug abuser inside their family. But the mother, in this case, didn’t hesitate and sought help to save her daughter,” he said.
Article 89 of the New Anti-Narcotics Law spares addicts from legal punishment if they voluntarily give themselves up to the police.
The law also makes it binding on addicts to hand over all drugs they have in possession and receive treatment. Addicts face legal charges if they refuse to get treated.
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
