ABU DHABI // Surgeon John Devine cannot understand why Emiratis are still choosing to travel overseas for surgery, given the level of expertise and technology available here.
Dr Devine recently used 3-D printing technology to rebuild the jaw of a young woman who had a tumour.
The maxillofacial, head and neck surgeon at Seha’s Mafraq Hospital has performed only five such operations because most patients opt to go abroad for treatment.
“I don’t know why,” Dr Devine says. “The standard of the unit here is as high as anywhere in the world. Everything can be done here in the UAE. We have the latest technology and the best expertise.
“We can honestly say we have the best standards, whether it is post-operative care or intensive care or nursing.”
His latest patient, Nouf, had to have the right side of her jaw removed. He rebuilt it using the most advanced technology available.
Mafraq is the only hospital in Abu Dhabi to use 3-D printing, which it has applied to reconstructive surgery for more than two years.
Bone was taken from Nouf’s leg, broken and then rebuilt for her jaw, with a 3-D print used for the specifications.
“When you have a tumour that was removed from the face or neck, you have to rebuild primarily for function and quality and appearance,” Dr Devine says.
Nouf’s father says he did not consider taking his daughter, one of his eight children, overseas for the operation.
“When they told me that my daughter had a large tumour and they had to remove her jaw, we were shocked,” he says.
“Every Emirati’s first thought is to travel for treatment. All my friends and family told me to take Nouf abroad.
“But I asked doctors and they told me that Dr John was an expert and one of the best surgeons in the world, so why do I need to go abroad if the best doctor is here?
“I’ll listen to doctors when it comes to treatment options, not to family and friends.
“A part of treatment, I believe, is psychological. When Nouf was in the hospital, her mother and her entire family was by her side. Her friends came and we were all around her.
“When you are abroad, you have one or two people at the most, you don’t know the culture or language and are alone. It’s very depressing and lonely.
“Our country has offered us everything and yet we insist on going abroad. It’s unnecessary and a waste of money.”
Nouf, 20, was released from hospital last week and is ready to resume her studies.
“My friends came to visit me in the hospital and didn’t know the difference,” she says. “They didn’t know which was my real jaw and which was my fake jaw.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
Islamic Architecture: A World History
Author: Eric Broug
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Pages: 336
Available: September
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT
Price, base / as tested: Dh259,000
Engine: 6.4-litre V8
Power: 475hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 640Nm @ 4,300rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022
First match: November 20
Final 16 round: December 3 to 6
Quarter-finals: December 9 and 10
Semi-finals: December 13 and 14
Final: December 18
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Fireball
Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.
A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.
"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150+ employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar