How GDRFA-Dubai ensured safety of residents and visitors

Ali Al Shouk | Senior Reporter

As COVID-19 continues to force many cities across the globe to remain in various stages of lockdown, Dubai has successfully managed to get back into its rhythm, with due safety measures in place, allowing both residents and visitors to soak up the vibrant lifestyle for which the emirate is known for and loved the world over.

The past year has been fraught with lockdowns and travel bans, with many countries finding themselves compelled to shut their borders to visitors. When the first wave of the pandemic struck, Dubai, a city founded on trade, aviation and hospitality, returned to normality quickly due to the right and timely decisions taken by the authorities here to ensure safety of its residents and travellers.

Lieutenant General Mohammad Ahmad Al Marri, Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA), told Gulf News in an exclusive interview that they were prepared to continue with their work and provide all the necessary services to Emiratis, residents as well as travellers despite the many challenges.

Remote working system

“We never expected to be confronted with a global pandemic in the first place. However, we were better geared to face it because we started preparing ourselves for the future since 2014, when we adopted the remote working system for some of our employees. Having an early plan helped our department to continue to work without a hitch during the movement restrictions last year,” said Lieutenant Gen. Al Marri.

Having a Risk Management Department at GDRFA-Dubai helped maintain essential services such as renewing residencies, visas and entry permits.

“All our services went online even before the pandemic, though our service centres and headquarters were still operating [physically] for some customers. As COVID-19 came knocking, the challenge was to continue with our work unhindered,” he added.

He said the main task was renewing residency permits and work progressed smoothly as all companies in Dubai usually submit their requests online through GDRFA’s smart channels. That was the usual practice even before the pandemic struck.

“We maintained an open channel with our customers through emails, phone calls and messages. Work continued like normal times with the remote working system in place in our department,” he explained.

First to wear masks

In Dubai, passport control officers are the first people who welcome travellers at Dubai International Airport. With news spreading about the coronavirus, passport control officers in Dubai were among the first people who started using masks in the early stages of the pandemic at Dubai International Airport.

More protective measures were soon undertaken by GDRFA-Dubai to ensure the safety of its officers and employees as well as that of the travellers, such as sanitising the counters eight times a day, placing stickers on the ground to help maintain physical distancing between the officers and travellers. “All our officers had started wearing gloves and masks as well as sanitising their counters,” he said.

According to Lt. Gen. Al Marri, a dedicated cell was formed to gather information about the virus and to furnish daily reports on the latest updates. “We were working round the clock to get updates about the virus. It was an unknown enemy that we couldn’t see, but having early reports and data about it helped us to protect our employees,” said Al Marri.

Officers of GDRFA-Dubai deployed at the airport were made to take all the protective measures and PCR tests. Moreover, passport control officers received their vaccines in the early stages as part of the national vaccination programme, which also helped keep the infection rate to a bare minimum among the GDRFA-Dubai employees working at the airport.

Tests at Hatta border point

One of the main challenges was keeping the land border between UAE and Oman open for the movement of trucks. GDRFA-Dubai, in coordination with Dubai Health Authority, set up a PCR test kiosk at the UAE-Oman border to check truck drivers before they entered the country.

“We placed a protocol to keep the border point open. The truck drivers had to go through thermal scanning and PCR tests. As a result, the trade and truck movement between the two countries remained active despite the pandemic. This was done in cooperation with the Omani authorities,” Lt. Gen. Al Marri said.

Amer call centre rises to the occasion

The Amer call centre also played a key role in helping people who sought the latest information on movement and travel restrictions, as a lot of orders and instructions were constantly being issued by the UAE authorities regarding travel and movement restrictions, visas and residency permits,

“The decisions were neither overwhelming nor unclear, but people were sometimes relying on the wrong sources, not official channels, for information. Amer call centre employees kept answering people’s calls and inquiries round the clock during those challenging times,” added Lt. Gen. Al Marri.

The number of Amer call centre employees was increased from 30 before the pandemic to 100 to answer inquiries on the toll-free number 8005111.

The employees were also armed with all the latest equipment to receive calls from their homes so that they could stay in touch while adhering to all the prescribed physical distancing norms. “The system was even installed at the employees’ homes. That way, we managed to answer more than 95 per cent of the calls made to Amer centres,” he said.

12 reports on post-COVID era

According to Lt. Gen. Al Marri, GDRFA-Dubai held a chain of meetings and sessions on how to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 and to develop a plan for the next five decades.

“We issued 12 reports for the post-COVID era, with the focus on future challenges for GDRFA-Dubai, such as human resources and ways to fine-tune the structure of the organisation. The reports cover topics such as future operations for passenger movements and issuing of entry permits, as well as dealing with immigration violators,” he added.

“Under our wise leadership, UAE has become the top country in the world in giving COVID-19 jabs to its residents,” he concluded.