SHARJAH // Al Dhaid Hospital turned away three people who had been injured in a road accident yesterday because it lacked the equipment and staff to treat them, a hospital official says.
Thirteen people were injured in the accident involving two vehicles in Al Dhaid. One vehicle was driven by an Emirati and the other by an Iraqi, whose car was carrying eight children.
Three of the injured needed CT scans but the hospital's machine has not worked in two months.
"This hospital is between several major roads going to Al Ain, Hatta, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah," the hospital official said.
"There are also many accidents on the road … which requires having the CT scan working and enough doctors in the emergency section."
Eight doctors have resigned from Al Dhaid this year, including four from emergency, the official said.
Hospital administrators have written to the Ministry of Health telling of the problems and saying the outpatient section would have to be shut down on Sunday because of the shortage of doctors.
Last month the maternity ward at Umm Al Qaiwain Hospital closed for a week - for the second time in less than a year.
The only two gynaecologists at the hospital were absent, one on annual leave and the other on emergency leave after the death of a relative, said Juma Obaid Al Aass, the deputy director of the UAQ Hospital administration department.
The Ministry of Health announced this year that five medical centres are being built in the Northern Emirates at a cost of about Dh1.25billion.
Among these is the Dh550million Sheikh Khalifa Hospital, donated by Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE.