Al Wasl back to full function, director reports

Dubai's Al Wasl Hospital has lifted its restrictions on patient numbers in its maternity wards following January's outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus.

"We are almost back to full function," said Dr Abdullah Rahim Mustafari, acting medical director of Al Wasl Hospital.

"We have an in-house infection control committee and they have worked very hard on this to clear everything and rectify the situation - this was previously hard to do because of the unit's overcrowding."

Dubai and Al Wasl Hospitals, both managed by the Department of Health and Medical Services, had restricted the number of patients admitted after a premature baby died from the hospital-acquired infection at the Al Wasl Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in January.

Officials attributed the cause of infection to the sheer volume of patients the department accommodates daily.

The reduction in government capacity resulted in Dubai's private hospitals picking up the burden, and the cheque, for premature births. Local press reported that individual bills for private NICU treatment were approaching as much as AED200,000.

Uninsured expatriate patients have been hit hardest by the restrictions, confirmed Dr Andrea Farhat, a specialist obstetrician at Dubai's International Modern Hospital. "It is mainly a money matter," she said.

"If you have insurance then you are okay and can go to the private hospital, but if they're not then they have to go to the crowded government hospital."

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