Meet Zainab - Making her mark in a man’s world

It’s 2am when Zainab Juma Ali Hassan, 37, receives a 999 radio call on her walkie talkie about an accident at Al Garhoud.

This is the fifth call in the day. But her response is always enthusiastic and alert.

Attired in her phosphorescent green uniform, boots and all, she is aware of keeping to her response time of under seven minutes. She wastes no time as she swings behind the blue and pink ambulance wheel, and manoeuvres her way deftly with her team of paramedics to reach the site in a record five minutes, reaching the critically injured victims with timely help.

This is a typical day in the life of Zainab, a driver with the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS), responding to a maximum of five emergency calls in a 12-hour work shift that either begins at 5am and ends at 5pm or begins at 5pm and ends at 5am the next day.

Zainab, an Emirati, who began her career driving a taxi, joined DCAS six years ago and is thrilled to get a community service spin to her career.

“I get great satisfaction in helping really sick and injured people and am glad I took up ambulance driving,” says Zainab, who is originally from Dubai, studied at Al Hudaiba School and is one of the chief breadwinners for her family comprising her parents and sisters.

Original article by Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary

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Meet Zainab – Making her mark in a man’s world