AJMAN // Whether it is an elderly person suffering a stroke, a child fainting on a football pitch, or a labourer inhaling smoke in a factory fire, the new Rescue and Ambulance Centre in Ajman has promised a prompt response.
The centre, the first of its kind in the emirate, was opened yesterday by Sheikh Sultan bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, the deputy director general of Ajman Police. It is next to a closed Enoc petrol station on Emirates Road.
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Sheikh Sultan said that because of the centre, ambulances and rescue teams would be at all sporting events, big conferences and mass gatherings.
Residents welcomed the centre, saying it would help rescuers reach accident scenes quicker.
"Emirates Road has had several accidents and there was no police station around," said Hafiz Durani, 34, a resident of Ajman.
"I have been in a road accident and we waited for about 30 minutes for a police patrol to come. Imagine if there was a big emergency - we could have died."
Before, only the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Hospital was equipped to dispatch ambulances for serious emergencies.
Hamad Obaid Taryam Al Shamsi, the general director of the Ajman Health Zone, said the hospital handled about 500 emergency cases every day - the largest number in the UAE.
Mr Al Shamsi said 60 per cent of emergency cases were traffic accidents and most of those came from the two busy roads linking the Northern Emirates to Dubai.
He said most emergency patients were from Ajman, Umm al Qaiwain, the Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah, and Ras al Khaimah.
