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Dubai: Deaths at Dubai International Airport, mainly due to heart attacks and pulmonary embolism, plummeted to single digits last year, despite being the biggest airport in the Middle East.
Nine people died out of the 17,404 cases the airport medical centre handled in 2007, compared to 15 people out of the 8,456 cases in 2006. Dubai International Airport handled 34.34 million passengers last year. Last year was also action-packed for the medical staff, with two births at the airport.
Dr Ebtesam Bastaki, director of the airport medical centre, told Gulf News most of travelers who died were in their 50s and 60s.
"The risk factors for these patients were already high with hypertension, diabetes and long flights," she said.
She credited the low death rate to better response time, emergency training and coordination among staff.
Most of the deaths were due to cardiac arrest, although a few also suffered from pulmonary embolism, a condition caused by long periods of inactivity common in long-haul flights. Not all who came in to the medical centre with the conditions died, however. Some were treated and stabilised on-site before being transferred to the hospital.
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