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Dubai Police treat 10 scuba divers suffering from decompression sickness

The decompression chamber helped treat amateur divers who fell ill

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The Dubai Police on Sunday said they treated 10 scuba divers last year who suffered from decompression sickness, known as 'the bends,' by placing divers inside a decompression chamber located at the Dubai Police Health Centre.

According to Major Ismail Hasan Mahmoud, director of oxygenating treatment at the General Department of Transport and Rescue, the decompression chamber helped treat amateur divers who fell ill after not decompressing properly from deep ocean diving.

“We've treated divers and helped them walk again after being paralysed. This is usually due to not following safety procedures after spending many hours underwater or rising quickly from underwater,” he explained.

Major Mahmoud said that a 35-year-old Emirati patient suffered from decompression sickness after diving four consecutive times without considering diving depths and timings.

“Nitrogen concentration in the man’s tissues were very high. As a result, the man experienced severe weakness in feet, lower back pain, imbalanced walking, severe pain in the left shoulder with severe numbness in the lower limbs, and severe abdominal pain and difficulty urinating,” he added.

Major Mahmoud confirmed that they helped the man recover with the help of a few sessions at the decompression chamber.

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Ocean divers get the bends — which can be fatal — because of not stopping at intervals while resurfacing from water to help the body expel nitrogen build-up in the bloodstream.

Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai