Doha • An expatriate woman was trapped in an elevator in a building in Najma for over two hours. The distressed lady banged on the elevator door to alert the neighbours. Hearing the cries for help some people called the Civil Defence authorities who rushed to the spot to rescue her.

The woman's husband claimed that this was not the first time such a thing had happened in the building. Several families had faced a similar predicament he pointed out.

Repeated complaints to the maintenance company had yielded no results, he complained.

The incident had left his wife traumatised, and it a clear case of negligence on part of the company he added. He demanded a solution this problem within a week.

Dental clinics appointment through fax

Doha • If you are looking for a dental appointment make sure you fax such a request. In what seems to be recent trend, dental clinics across the city are not taking appointments over the phone, but are insisting on such requests being faxed to them.

A national who called up a dental clinic to set up an appointment was bluntly told to send them a fax instead.

This move has not gone down too well with the people. They feel that it is inconvenient to have to fax such requests, why couldn't they use other available options like the internet or cell-phones, they wondered.

Another sore point seems to be the long waiting period in getting an appointment.

A number of people have petitioned the authorities to take necessary action to reduce this waiting period.

There seems to be a growing demand to have more dental clinics at the different health clinics in the city, also there was a shortage of medical equipment at dental centres.

Staff shortage at Abu Samra Customs

Doha • The shortage of staff was a major impediment in smooth functioning of Abu Samra Customs Port, complained officials posted there.

The inspectors are really cut up about the heavy work load, and feel that it is grossly understaffed. Al Sharq spoke to a cross section of customs employees to find out the real issues. Adel Ahmed Al Sharief, a customs official complained that he had to deal with 45 trucks daily which was proving too much of burden. His twelve hour daily grind had left him physically and mentally fatigued.

Abdul Fateh Ali echoed the same sentiments, he too was being stretched to a breaking point.

Another sore point with the customs employees was the absence of any offices or rest places for the already overworked personnel.

Conference on mother tongue planned

Doha • An international conference focusing on importance of the mother tongue in building the child's character will take place from February 21 to February 23 at the Ritz Carlton hotel.

The conference is themed 'children between using the mother tongue and interacting with the era'. It is being organised by the Childhood Cultural Centre of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) in collaboration with the National Council of Childhood in Egypt.

The conference will highlight many issues such as, mother tongue, globalisation and its impact on child's language, language in a multi cultural world, second language and child's future and dealing with children with special needs.