As if having a traumatic experience trying to find a hospital willing to admit them and having twins born 14 weeks prematurely wasn’t enough, an Indian couple in Dubai face hospital costs totalling Dh850,000 after their newborns spent seven months in NICU.
Valerian Dias’ wife Delma went into labour at 26 weeks and their frightening experience began when doctors at a private hospital told them that she needed to have surgery immediately and it would cost Dh500,000.
They had health insurance but were not confident that all costs would be covered so, assuming that it would be cheaper at a government hospital, they went to one in Dubai.
“When we went to the government hospital in Dubai, we were told there were no beds and to go to another hospital,” said Mr Dias, 44, an engineer.
The couple then went to another private hospital but it wanted a Dh100,000 deposit to admit Delma, who works in finance for a cargo company.
“We couldn’t afford that so we were told to go to yet another hospital in Ajman,” said Mr Dias, whose wife was going through labour pains throughout.
“When we arrived in Ajman and after they did all the tests, they told us that they didn’t have the facilities to care for the babies and we had to leave.”
By then, Delma was in excruciating pain and began bleeding heavily.
They were near a bank and it was during Ramadan, so “the women in the bank took her in and made her lie down. She couldn’t move from the pain and so they called for an ambulance to take her back to the government hospital in Dubai”.
The ambulance came and picked her up but dropped her off in the middle of the street a few minutes later. “They told us that they had no jurisdiction to enter Dubai and they could only drop us off at the border,” Mr Dias said.
He had their car so he drove back to Dubai and pleaded with the first hospital, which claimed it had no beds to admit his wife. “I was in tears. I begged them to take her in,” Mr Dias said.
After making them wait for hours, the hospital finally admitted Mrs Dias and operated on her. A baby boy and girl were born on the June 17, 2015, both weighing less than 1kg. Tragically, after they had spent seven months in NICU, the girl died and only the boy, Aldin, survived.
“My daughter was not doing well and passed in December 2015. I named her Abigail,” said Mr Dias, who with his wife has one other child, a daughter, Delisha, 9.
Aldin was discharged on January 30, 2016 with an oxygen tank. “He required continuous follow-up and, for a year, seasonal injections that cost us about Dh1,800,” said the father.
At the time of Aldin’s discharge, Mr Dias had a bill of Dh1.34 million. After their insurance company paid some of the amount and he took out a loan of Dh100,000 , Mr Dias now owes the hospital Dh850,000.
“We have been to many charities and asked everyone for help but they have refused to take up our case,” he said.
Mr Dias had to give the hospital a blank cheque and his Emirates ID to discharge his son.
“The amount is exorbitant but we had no choice. We tried to go to a cheaper hospital but no one would take my wife in and she needed to be operated on immediately because the baby’s lives were in danger,” he said.
Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of Zakat and Social Services at Dar Al Ber Society, said: “The family are grateful that their son has survived and Aldin is now alive and healthy but they have suffered a lot. They need Dh850,000 so they can move on with their lives and put the agony of the past two years behind them.”
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
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The National photo project
Chris Whiteoak, a photographer at The National, spent months taking some of Jacqui Allan's props around the UAE, positioning them perfectly in front of some of the country's most recognisable landmarks. He placed a pirate on Kite Beach, in front of the Burj Al Arab, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland at the Burj Khalifa, and brought one of Allan's snails (Freddie, which represents her grandfather) to the Dubai Frame. In Abu Dhabi, a dinosaur went to Al Ain's Jebel Hafeet. And a flamingo was taken all the way to the Hatta Mountains. This special project suitably brings to life the quirky nature of Allan's prop shop (and Allan herself!).
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
More about Middle East geopolitics
