Expat labourers renew calls for clinic in Umm Salal

A workers’ housing unit in Umm Salal Mohamed.

By Ramesh MathewStaff ReporterExpatriate labourers living in the town of Umm Salal Mohamed, located about 15km north of Doha, have reiterated the demand for a new workers’ clinic in the area.The town and its neighbouring areas have witnessed a steady increase in their population, but many residents - particularly blue-collar workers - feel the development of health facilities there has not kept pace with the rise in the number of inhabitants.Over the last two years, some 30 contracting firms have set up workers’ camps in the municipal town and adjacent areas and it is estimated that around 20,000 workers are living in them, according to sources.However, there is no walk-in clinic in the area where these workers can go for medical assistance, say the town’s residents. At present, the workers need to travel to clinics in the Industrial Area, Al Khor or the new facility in Mesaimeer for their medical requirements.This is not the first time that the workers are raising this issue. Earlier this year, as reported by Gulf Times in March, residents of workers’ camps in  Umm Salal Ali and Umm Salal Mohamed had called for better health facilities in their neighbourhood. Eight months later, they have reiterated the demand even as more companies have set up workers’ accommodation units in Umm Salal and its vicinity in view of the large-scale infrastructure projects like the Orbital Highway and Truck Route and a water reservoir being implemented in these and neighbouring areas.Mohamed Shafeeq, a public relations officer with a contracting firm, said that companies like theirs regularly took workers who required medical attention to health facilities in the Industrial Area or Al Khor.“Every day, we have to drop some workers at the medical centres in the early morning hours to ensure that they get a doctor’s appointment,” he said. It is understood that the number of appointments at each of these facilities  is restricted and many of those who reach there even early in the morning are unable to get an appointment.As rents are lower for plots in Umm Salal than in the Industrial Area, many companies are encouraged to shift their labour camps to the town, it is learnt. “This will bring more camps to the town in the coming months and the request for setting up a workers’ clinic is a genuine one,” said Ali Basheer, a trader operating in the area.Meanwhile, residents said that their request for better public bus services to the area had now been addressed. Buses are now available from the immediate neighbourhood of labour camps. “Similarly, we hope the health authorities will respond positively to our request for a workers’ medical clinic in Umm Salal,” said a worker.Some residents felt that mobile health clinics could provide temporary relief to them until a permanent facility was set up.