UAE tightens use of antibiotics amid superbug fears and rising health insurance costs

Dr. Amin Hussain Al-Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public policy and licensing at the Ministry of Health and Prevention. (Courtesy of UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention website)
Updated 02 March 2018
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UAE tightens use of antibiotics amid superbug fears and rising health insurance costs

ABU DHABI: Government-issued circulars are being sent to UAE doctors to curb over-prescription of antibiotics to prevent resistance to superbugs and tackle the cost to health insurance systems of antibiotic misuse.
Dr. Amin Hussain Al-Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public policy and licensing at the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), said the circulars were part of a raft of measures urging doctors not to issue antibiotics as a first port-of-call.
“The impact of our rules and the circulars will firstly be for the protection of patients themselves,” he said. “But also this will lower health insurance costs because if unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are avoided then this will minimize the bill which will be forwarded from health care facilities to insurance companies. It will minimize the costs to the UAE because government hospitals provide services free of charge to UAE nationals.”
Dr. Al-Amiri said that the measures will focus on clamping down on doctors who ‘“overdose’” patients by routinely prescribing drugs and pharmacies that issue antibiotics without a prescription.
The steps are in line with World Health Organization (WHO) reports that warn of rising resistance caused by changes that occur in bacteria and render antibiotics less effective.
“First of all, we released many circulars to physicians to not use antibiotics as the first option for the treatment of patients unless — and this is very important — it is absolutely indicated,” Dr. Al-Amiri said. “Once it is indicated there is no issue in prescribing antibiotics.”
This, he said, should mean doctors prescribing the lowest strength of antibiotics unless the patient did not respond to treatment.
“Next, which is very important, we are insisting that all pharmacies avoid issuing antibiotics without prescription which is illegal — this is against the rules and regulations of pharmaceutical law in the Emirates.”
Ministry of Health policy states that antibiotics should not be offered to patients by pharmacists without a doctor’s prescription. New legislation will further prevent pharmacy misconduct relating to antibiotic dispensation without a prescription.
Dr. Yasser Sadawey, internal medicine specialist at Al-Ain’s Medeor 24x7 International Hospital, welcomed the measures — but said it could have a less-than desirable effect on antibiotic sales in the UAE and wider region.
“It will be appreciated by insurance companies and individuals as it will reduce the insurance cost,” he said. “On the other hand, global pharmaceutical companies, which are the sole developers of new antibiotic medications, will have less revenue, which might affect the research programs. We had 65 antibiotics discovered during 1978-1998 and in the past 20 years we had just 15 new antibiotics.”
Dr. Sadawey said misuse was leading to medical practitioners losing their “first-line antibiotics.”
“If we don’t take action now, we may be back in an almost 19th-century environment where infections kill us as a result of routine operations,” he warned. “This is a global issue for governments, the medical profession, the pharmaceutical industry and individuals.”
Dr. Diab Kurdi, head of pharmacy at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital, also welcomed the move to reduce antibiotic misuse.
“Doctors in the UAE have been issued with circulars that warn against using antibiotics as the first option for treatment if there is another potential solution,” he said. “If antibiotics are absolutely necessary, it’s recommended that doctors begin with the lowest dose possible. Measures like this are important in the UAE, as they are the world over, to prevent the overuse and potential eventual inefficacy of antibiotics.”
Dr. Kurdi said there was also a responsibility for patients, health care professionals and policy makers to tackle overuse.
“The industry itself needs to invest in research and the development of new antibiotics, vaccines and other tools; individual practitioners/physicians can take greater steps to limit the transmission of infection through cleaning of hands and equipment, and report antibiotic-resistant infections to surveillance teams. Patients must always follow guidelines for use and never share or use leftover antibiotics.”
Talal Bayaa, co-founder of the Dubai medical insurance technology start-up Bayzat, said traditionally insurers have acted as “independently managed control measures” against over-diagnosis and over-prescription of drugs such as antibiotics.
“They’ve done so by ‘rejecting’ cover for specific treatments and medications that are prescribed by medical service providers,” he said. “We as brokers, as well as insurance providers, have seen cases of antibiotic over-prescription for the treatment of conditions that can otherwise be treated by other medications that are significantly more affordable than antibiotics and have less impact on patient’s existing immunity, as well as other systems that may be affected by taking harsh antibiotics when not required.”
Bayaa said: “As it stands, given the volatile nature of how medical service providers prescribe treatments and medication, medical insurance premiums tend to be erratic in nature, and the fluctuation in year-on-year premiums is quite extreme.
“Given a more controlled and regulated prescription/diagnosis environment, we can expect medical insurance premiums to reach increased stability and predictability. However, it would take insurers at least a year to be able to properly assess and predict the levels of risk of claims in the region related to antibiotics.”


Doctor at Brown University deported to Lebanon despite US judge’s order

Dr. Rasha Alawieh. (Supplied)
Updated 5 sec ago
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Doctor at Brown University deported to Lebanon despite US judge’s order

  • While in Lebanon, the US consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations
  • Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab

BOSTON, March 16 : A Rhode Island doctor who is an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon even though a judge had issued an order blocking the US visa holder’s immediate removal from the country, according to court papers.
The expulsion of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who on Sunday demanded information on whether US Customs and Border Protection had “willfully” disobeyed his order.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said he had received a “detailed and specific” timeline of the events from an attorney working on Alawieh’s behalf that raised “serious allegations” about whether his order was violated.
The agency has not said why she was removed. But her expulsion came as Republican US President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossing and ramp up immigration arrests.
A CBP spokesperson, Hilton Beckham, in a statement said migrants bear the burden of establishing admissibility and that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”
Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab.
She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.
While in Lebanon, the US consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations.
Despite that visa, CBP detained her at the airport for reasons her family members have still not been provided, according to the lawsuit, which argued her rights were being violated.
In response to the lawsuit, Sorokin on Friday evening issued orders barring Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice to the court and requiring her to be brought to a court hearing on Monday.
Yet according to the cousin’s attorneys, after that order was issued, Alawieh was flown to Paris, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon that had been scheduled for Sunday.
Sorokin on Sunday directed the government to provide a legal and factual response by Monday morning ahead of the previously scheduled hearing and to preserve all emails, text messages and other documents concerning Alawieh’s arrival and removal.
Concerns have also been raised in other cases about whether the Trump administration is complying with court rulings blocking parts of its agenda.
The Trump administration on Sunday said it has deported
hundreds of Venezuelans
to El Salvador under seldom-used wartime powers, despite a federal judge’s order temporarily barring such deportations.

 

 


Sudanese police accuse RSF paramilitaries after 11 bodies found at bottom of a well in Khartoum

Updated 14 min 4 sec ago
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Sudanese police accuse RSF paramilitaries after 11 bodies found at bottom of a well in Khartoum

  • The bodies of 11 people were recovered Saturday from the deep well in the Fayhaa neighborhood of the city
  • Police say the victims were killed by paramilitary by the paramilitary RSF when itwas controlling the area

CAIRO: Sudanese authorities said Sunday many bodies have been found at the bottom of a well in the capital, Khartoum, a few days after the military cleared the area from a notorious paramilitary group.
The bodies of 11 people, including women and children, were recovered Saturday from the deep well in the Fayhaa neighborhood of the city, according to police.
Col. Abdul-Rahanan Mohamed Hassan, head of the civil defense’s field team in Khartoum, said a search of the the area was mounted after residents reported that they found a dead body in the well.
“We found inside this well different characters (bodies), males and females, adults and children,” Hassan said, adding that authorities were still searching the well.
Police say the victims were killed by the Rapid Support Forces before being thrown into the well when the paramilitary force was controlling the area. The military retook the area earlier this month as part of its sweeping advances in Khartoum and its sister city of Omdurman.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
Afraa Al-Hajj Omar, a resident of the nearby Hajj Youssef neighborhood, said that the RSF killed many people in the area and their bodies were left for days in the streets. She said many bodies were thrown in the well. “They robbed us, beat us, and tortured us,” she said.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open warfare across the country.
At least 20,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.
The fighting, which wrecked Khartoum and other urban areas has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.
The war has intensified in recent months, with the military making steady advances against the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.


Syria’s new rulers seek aid boost at EU conference

Updated 21 min 19 sec ago
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Syria’s new rulers seek aid boost at EU conference

  • Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani is expected to take part in the event, along with dozens of European and Arab ministers and representatives of international organizations

BRUSSELS: The interim government in Damascus will take part on Monday in an annual international conference to gather aid pledges for Syria, facing dire humanitarian problems and an uncertain political transition after the fall of Bashar Assad.
The conference has been hosted by the European Union in Brussels since 2017 — but took place without the government of Assad, who was shunned for his brutal actions in a civil war that began in 2011.
After Assad’s overthrow in December, EU officials hope to use the conference as a fresh start, despite concerns about deadly violence this month that pitted the new, Islamist rulers against Assad loyalists.
“This is a time of dire needs and challenges for Syria, as tragically evidenced by the recent wave of violence in coastal areas,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
But she said it was also “a time of hope,” citing an agreement struck on March 10 to integrate the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which control much of Syria’s northeast, into new state institutions.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the group that toppled Assad, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations. But EU officials want to engage with the new rulers as long as they stick to pledges to make the transition inclusive and peaceful.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani is expected to take part in the event, along with dozens of European and Arab ministers and representatives of international organizations.
EU officials say the conference is particularly important as the United States under President Donald Trump is making huge cutbacks to humanitarian and development aid programs.
Last year’s conference yielded pledges of 7.5 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in grants and loans, with the EU pledging 2.12 billion for 2024 and 2025.
About 16.5 million people in Syria require humanitarian assistance, with 12.9 million people needing food aid, according to the EU.
The destruction from the war has been compounded by an economic crisis that has sent the Syrian pound tumbling and pushed almost the entire population below the poverty line. ($1 = 0.9192 euros)

 


Families of Syrians who disappeared during its civil war say the search must go on

Updated 51 min 21 sec ago
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Families of Syrians who disappeared during its civil war say the search must go on

  • A United Nations-backed commission on Friday urged the interim government led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa to preserve evidence and anything they can document from prisons in the ongoing search for the disappeared

DARAA, Syria: Family members of Syrians who disappeared in the country’s 14-year civil war gathered in the city of Daraa on Sunday to urge the newly installed interim government to not give up on efforts to find them.
The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the war, many of them detained by former President Bashar Assad’s network of intelligence agencies as well as by opposition fighters and the extremist Daesh group. Advocacy group The Syrian Campaign says some 112,000 are still missing.
When rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham overthrew Assad in December, they stormed prisons and released detainees from the ousted government’s dungeons. Families of the missing quickly rushed to the prisons seeking their loved ones. While there were some reunions, rescue services also discovered mass graves around the country and used whatever remains they could retrieve to identify the dead.

Family members hold pictures of their relatives who disappeared in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war, during a protest calling on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them, in the city of Daraa, Syria, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP)

On Sunday, the 14th anniversary of the countrywide uprisings that spiraled into civil war, Wafa Mustafa held a placard of her father, Ali, who was detained by the Assad government’s security forces in 2013. She fled a week later to Germany, fearing she would also be detained, and hasn’t heard from him since.
Like many other Syrians who fled the conflict or went into exile for their activism, she often held protests and rallied in European cities. Now, she has returned twice since Assad’s ouster, trying to figure out her father’s whereabouts.
“I’m trying, feeling both hope and despair, to find any answer on the fate of my father,” she said. “I searched inside the prisons, the morgues, the hospitals, and through the bodies of the martyrs, but I still couldn’t find anything.”
A United Nations-backed commission on Friday urged the interim government led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa to preserve evidence and anything they can document from prisons in the ongoing search for the disappeared. The commission also urged the new government to pursue perpetrators.
Some foreign nationals are missing in Syria as well, notably American journalist Austin Tice, whose mother visited Syria in January and met with Al-Sharaa. Tice has not been heard from other than a video released weeks after his disappearance in 2012 that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men.
Syria’s civil war began after Assad crushed largely peaceful protests in 2011, one of the popular uprisings against Arab rulers known as the Arab Spring. Half a million people were killed during the conflict, and more than 5 million left the country as refugees.
 

 


Yemen rebel leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes

Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthis, during a televised speech on the group's Al-Masirah TV channel (Screengrab
Updated 17 March 2025
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Yemen rebel leader calls for ‘million-strong’ rally after deadly US strikes

  • The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally
  • US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes until the Houthis stop attacking Red Sea shipping

SANAA: The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday called for a “million-strong” march of defiance after deadly US strikes hit the capital, Sanaa, and other areas.
“I call on our dear people to go out tomorrow on the anniversary of the Battle of Badr in a million-strong march in Sanaa and the rest of the governorates,” Abdulmalik Al-Houthi said in a televised address, referring to a celebrated military victory by the Prophet Muhammad.