ABU DHABI // By his own admission, Eddie Callachan is a "dope on a rope". Part of his day job with the UAE Air Force involves being suspended hundreds of metres off the ground, attempting to avoid smoke, heavy winds and fire.
Despite his self-deprecating title, however, he is a lifeline for people trapped on the roofs of burning buildings and involved in other mishaps.
A South African, he has been a member of the medical team with the Air Force and Air Defence Medical Centre since 2000, and responds to everything from road crashes to calls of distress from fishermen lost at sea.
Mr Callachan, a flight paramedic, risks his life for the sake of others. "We can do what other doctors don't - it's not their environment," he said. "We wouldn't go to work in an intensive unit care. It's not our environment."
Moving to Abu Dhabi, he said, gave him an opportunity to become part of a relatively new system that could only get better.
"Health care is still developing in this country, especially the aeromedical field," he said. "There is huge room for development in research and training. It's great to get in at the grass-roots level."
In South Africa Mr Callachan, 39, a father of one, worked as a firefighter paramedic. That gave him invaluable training for his new post, particularly in rooftop rescues.
Mr Callachan and his team are based at the Al Bateen airbase in Abu Dhabi and deploy on helicopters or four-engine turboprop airplanes.
They are often called to help other emergency services cope with large numbers of casualties or rescues from difficult-to-reach spots.
Missions include search-and-rescue operations in mountains, the desert or at sea, and responding to traffic crashes involving military personnel or their families.
When it comes to finding people lost at sea, the circumstances are often challenging.
"There's a lot of times when the boat has activated the [distress] signal, but when you get to that spot, they've moved," Mr Callachan said. "It's very frustrating when you know they're there but you can't find them. Then it turns from a rescue to a recovery. You just always hope you find the person safe and well."
In urban settings, he said, "I'm the dope-on-the-rope guy. I get on the hoist to be dropped down to pick people up. You have to be very careful, and it requires a lot of concentration - you can't afford to slip."
These sorts of rescues are not uncommon in the capital. In September 2008, a young girl and two adults had to be airlifted to safety after a fire broke out on a roof shanty atop a 16-storey apartment block on Airport Road.
Because of the sensitivity of his job, however, Mr Callachan is unable to discuss details of specific rescue missions.
Lt Col Dr Nasser al Nuaimi, the chief flight surgeon of the UAE Air Force and head of the search-and-rescue and medical evacuation unit, said Mr Callachan's background makes him invaluable.
"All of the team are from South Africa," he said. "And this works very well in terms of their understanding of where things are at in the UAE. It is still a relatively new service and they all adapt very well."
Lt Col Al Nuaimi, an Emirati, said the unit has big ambitions. The top three priorities for the next five years, he said, are building a more co-ordinated approach across the country; gaining more experience; and nationalisation.
"I would love to see more UAE men and women in the teams, but at the same time, I would never compromise on quality," he said.
Mr Callachan and his colleagues are certainly "heroic", Lt Col al Nuaimi said, and don't often get the recognition they deserve, but this is part of working for a military organisation.
"A lot of the work is unknown by the public," he said. "Particularly the humanitarian work we have done in the Iraq War and natural disasters such as the Pakistan earthquake. To be involved in these types of things is an honour."
Mr Callachan and his team flew to Pakistan to help after the October 2008 earthquake, which killed at least 170 people and injured thousands more.
For Mr Callachan, it was a new and striking experience. "There was a lot of injured people and not a lot of health care," he said. "We ended up bringing back a lot of patients to be treated in hospitals in the UAE.
"The training teaches you how to concentrate on one patient - at that time we had 56 in the plane. It is very, very challenging and you can't apply all your training, you just have to do the best you can in the amount of time you have."
But Mr Callachan has one statistic he is especially proud of. To date, he said, there have been no fatalities on his flights.
"We obviously want to avoid death or deterioration in flight. They are out of their comfort zone sometimes, and if they are seriously injured they can deteriorate very fast. And you can't hear. In an intensive care unit there are alarms that go off - on a plane you wouldn't hear them.
"It's challenging dealing with a patient in that environment and bringing them into the hospital in hopefully a better or more stable condition. But it's my job, and of course I enjoy it."
@Email:munderwood@thenational.ae
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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.
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Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
- Level 2 features curated inspiration zones and solutions for bedrooms, living rooms and dining spaces. This is also where you’d go to customise your sofas and beds, and pick and choose from more than a dozen mattress options.
- Level 3 features The Home’s “man cave” set-up and a display of industrial and rustic furnishings. This level also has a mother’s room, a play area for children with staff to watch over the kids, furniture for nurseries and children’s rooms, and the store’s design studio.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
