SHARJAH // The Ministry of Health has been ordered to pay Dh3million (US$816,000) to the family of a woman left in a coma after a medical error during the delivery of her twin babies. The Federal Supreme Court ordered the payment after rejecting an appeal by the ministry over the level of compensation. Dr Reem Abdul Fattah Ahmed, 33, was left incapacitated three years ago when she was operated on at Al Qassimi Hospital after she went into labour with male and female twins.
The babies, Ghasan and Baisan, were delivered safely on Feb 27 2006. They now live with their maternal grandmother. Dr Ahmed was subsequently sent to Thailand for treatment, but remained in a coma. The family filed a claim for compensation which, though initially ordered by the courts, was appealed by the ministry. The Supreme Court upheld the level of compensation earlier this week. Dr Ahmed's lawyer, Imran al Rawi, said the rejection of the ministry's appeal meant that payment to the family should be made in the next 10 days.
Mr al Rawi said the family had filed a claim for Dh30m to cover legal bills and reparation for the physical, moral and psychological impact of the error on behalf of Dr Ahmed and her husband, Azmi. Dr Reem's mother, Umm Ramze, said she could not express the agony her daughter had gone through in the past three years. There was little chance her daughter would recover, she said. "My daughter has had to undergo several surgeries some related to the stomach and others of arteries," she said.
"I have also had to look after her as well as her twins. I can't contemplate the fact that they are growing up without her conscious. But their health is good and are now talking and playing." Humaid Mohammed Obaid al Qattami, the Health Minister, had formed a team to investigate the case, an official said. The minister also ordered that Dr Reem be taken outside the country for treatment at the ministry's expense.
ykakande@thenational.ae
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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HOSTS
T20 WORLD CUP
2024: US and West Indies; 2026: India and Sri Lanka; 2028: Australia and New Zealand; 2030: England, Ireland and Scotland
ODI WORLD CUP
2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia; 2031: India and
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.