Arab dies in hospital after 19-month coma

Mona Al Badawi, Staff Reporter

A young Arab man, Abu Baker Jamal, 23, died in Al Ain Hospital after a 19-month coma resulting from a traffic accident early in 2018.

Abu Baker and his friend were on their way back from his Dubai-based university. The vehicle was driven by his friend. They reached the Sudanese club in Al Ain City where they spent some time. After they left, Abu Baker, who was studying engineering, met his father, Jamal, in a brief encounter that concluded with a smile and got into his friend’s vehicle, which met with an accident later in Al Jimi area. The vehicle hit the central reservation and as a result Abu Baker suffered from an internal haemorrhage that affected some of his brain cells.

Abu Baker spent around one year in the intensive care unit in Al Ain Hospital before he was transferred to a medium care unit where he spent around 7 months and was responding to the beautiful memories that his father used to talk about.

“Although he could not exchange talk with me, his silent response gave me a spark of hope that he would return home and fill his family’s house with fun together with his three sisters,” Jamal said.

“One day before Abu Baker died, we were surprised by many calls from relatives and friends inside and outside the country, offering condolences on the death of our son. We used to deny the news and tell them that he was still alive. When I woke up the following day, I felt as if my heart was squeezed but it did not come to my mind that this was because my son would die today,” Jamal added.

Jamal went to the hospital on that day and stayed there all the day and at around 1.30am on Thursday, the doctors announced that Abu Baker died.

Recently, a two-year-old child drowned in the swimming pool of his parents’ house in Al Ain City.

The incident came to light when the Central Operations Control Room at Abu Dhabi Police received a call that a child drowned in Jebel Hafeet area.

The Police believe that it is negligence that causes child drowning incidents, and have time and again emphasised the need for families to avoid leaving their children alone while swimming and to keep an eye on them wherever they are in order to maintain their safety.

They have also underlined the need for familiarising children with the risks involved in swimming pools, and providing them with safety equipment and ropes, as well as locking the doors leading to swimming pools.