Dubai Muncipality has launched free “swimming wheelchair” service at Al Mamzar Beach on Tuesday as a community initiative. This kind gesture by Dubai Muncipality will definitely help the elderly and people with special needs to enjoy their time in water like others do.
Both Al Mamzar and Jumeira beaches offer the service of 15 floating wheelchairs but more chairs will be available in future if the intiative is found successful.
"The move comes as part of civic body’s keenness to achieve the strategic goal of Dubai Government to be one of the most friendly cities in the world for people with special needs by 2020 through the initiative ‘My Community … A City for Everyone’ launched by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council,” said Hussain Nasser Lootah,director-general of the municipality, after launching the initiative at Mamzar beach.
Lootah said ”Dubai is the first Arab city that provides this facility for the people with special needs”.He also said that the chairs that cost Dh9000 each are imported from France and are selected after a market study about the product and the best practices in the world.
In addition ,he said that municipality have formed a team of lifeguards and trainers in order to ensure the safety and to help people with special needs to learn how to use these chairs in the first stage.