DUBAI // A tourist wants a cultural and entertainment centre in Dubai to pay her medical bills after she was injured in a fall there.
Hana Sabbagh, 60, from Jordan, dislocated her shoulder and broke her arm when she tripped on a rock on a pedestrian walkway and landed in a pit of pebbles near the Italian quarter in Global Village on December 27.
“Global Village should take responsibility and pay for the medical bills and operation, which amounted to approximately Dh40,000,” she said. “I fell because of their mistake, not because I was carrying anything, and I am in very good health.”
Ms Sabbagh, who was visiting Dubai to spend New Year’s Eve with her daughter, said the family had to take a bank loan to pay for the surgery and her youngest son took a loan to travel from Kuwait to see her.
“We shouldn’t have to go in debt over something like this,” she said.
Ms Sabbagh said that she was taken to a first aid clinic in Global Village, but the doctor on site said that there was a break and that she should be taken to Rashid Hospital.
“We tried to contact Global Village a number of times, and the person who we were dealing with did not give the matter much attention,” said Ms Sabbagh. “This is what’s so unfortunate, that a visitor is not being taken seriously.
“This is a tourist city, and we’ve heard great things about it, but we are disappointed that Global Village treated us this way.”
Ms Sabbagh’s daughter, Reem, 30, said that Global Village should take responsibility for the medical bills because they did not provide a safe pathway.
“They encourage visitors to come to their facility, the least they can do is provide a safe path,” she said. “What if a child falls on his face?
“We ask for officials responsible of Global Village to pay for the medical treatment.”
Ms Sabbagh said that she had to visit a number of hospitals before they found a doctor, at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital, willing to operate on her arm.
“Because my shoulder was dislocated backwards, no doctor would touch it at first, and now, I have to have physical therapy, which will also not bring 100 per cent function to my arm; it’s a handicap now,” she said, adding that she also had the burden of not being able to get a refund for her plane ticket home.
“I had to postpone my flight, and the ticket was non-refundable.”
A Global Village spokeswoman said: “We regret that our guest has suffered an injury. We are sure it has been treated by a skilled paramedic team provided by Dubai Health Authority. This is the first comment in two months since we opened and our business excellence and development team is looking into it to see if anything needs to be improved.
“Global Village always strives to provide the best guest experience for its visitors.”
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae
