Take and Give Away?

This is funny! It is like the opposite to the "give and take" situation! Maybe because it happened on the same day and within minutes that I read two pieces of news on Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates!

The first news headline is about Abu Dhabi hospitals charging patients up to Dhs 1,000 ($272) for swine flu tests, which are free in Dubai, by the way, according to The National website. Patients, wary of the side effects of Tamiflu, have been demanding the tests in order to avoid taking the anti-viral drug unless they are specifically infected. However, the tests are often unnecessary, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it recommends that otherwise healthy patients who have flu-like symptoms but no other complications need not be treated with antivirals or tested for the virus.

The second piece of news is concerning a $150 million gift from the government of Abu Dhabi to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, with the aim of developing tools and processes to reduce the pain children experience before, during and after surgery. According to the New York Times, the gift to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington will be used for pain research. “Our hope is that this gift will be transformative and lead to new medical technology and breakthroughs that improve health care for children around the world,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States.

The full article from the New York Times is here, interesting read telling the story of how this gift was given and a background on this institute.