DUBAI // Ahmed Al Ali, the Emirati man who was twice misdiagnosed and was denied treatment overseas, has succumbed to his illness at a hospital in Germany.
Mr Al Ali, 30, who was reportedly being treated for lymphoma, died at the weekend and was buried on Sunday.
His mother, Umm Ahmed, was devastated by the news. "There is nothing I can say, other than my heart hurts," she said.
Her sister, Salma Murshid, said they could only pray for Mr Al Ali's soul.
"I won't say anything more than Allah have mercy on him," Ms Murshid said.
Umm Ahmed, who is divorced and receives a Dh4,400 monthly pension through social welfare, said when her son became ill several months ago she took him to a private hospital in Ras Al Khaimah, where he stayed for two days.
Finding treatment there too expensive, she moved him to Dubai Hospital. After a series of tests, doctors said Mr Al Ali was HIV-positive.
He was readmitted to hospital two months later, and Dubai Hospital doctors sent him to Rashid Hospital, where the diagnosis was again HIV.
Two weeks later he was readmitted to hospital and doctors said he had a pulmonary inflammation.
Further analysis revealed Mr Al Ali did not have HIV, but lymphoma, a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system.
The misdiagnosis of her son's condition and wrongly prescribed medication only exacerbated his illness, Umm Ahmed said.
"Sometimes he couldn't see or move," she said. "Other times he wouldn't be able to eat or he'd throw up. It was terrible."
The World Health Organization says there are 70 types of lymphoma. Some forms of the disease have similar symptoms to those that are related to Aids.
According to the US National Cancer Institute, Aids-related lymphoma is present in about 3 per cent of HIV-positive people at the time of the condition's diagnosis.
"The virus HIV can cause swelling of the lymph nodes, and increase the size of the spleen and the liver," an Abu Dhabi oncologist explained. "But all of the above is caused by lymphoma, too.
"In many cases, the immune system is very compromised in a lymphoma patient, to a point were the patient can be severely immuno-suppressed in a similar fashion to an Aids patient."
Doctors recommended Mr Al Ali be sent abroad for treatment, Umm Ahmed said, and she received a report from Rashid Hospital.
The Ministry of Health rejected the report, she said, and told her to take Mr Al Ali to Tawam Hospital in Al Ain.
"They told me I had to do the tests all over again," she said.
The case of Mr Al Ali came to public light when Umm Ahmed called a morning radio show on Ajman's Radio Al Rabea and told the presenter Abdullah bin Khusaif about her son's plight.
"I heard about his death two days ago," Mr bin Khusaif said.
"He was really sick, there was nothing anyone could do - it was Allah's call."
During Umm Ahmed's 30-minute conversation on the air with Mr bin Khusaif, she expressed disappointment with the Ministry of Health.
While she and Mr bin Khusaif were talking, the studio received phone calls from several high-ranking officials, all of whom were volunteering to help pay for Mr Al Ali's care and treatment abroad.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, offered to pay in full for Mr Al Ali's treatment abroad.
Mr bin Khusaif said the radio show helped to get things done faster.
"There are many [generous people] here but the show helped speed things up," he said.
"Usually the Ministry of Health follows specific regulations and such regulations made things slower this time."
aalhaddad@thenational.ae
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
Oct 8: Malaysia (h)
Oct 13: Indonesia (a)
Nov 12: Thailand (h)
Nov 17: Vietnam (h)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
