Helipads

Wandering around Sharjah, I have noticed that almost all the highrise blocks (luxury or otherwise) have helipads on the rooves. But I have yet to see a single helicopter land on one, and given how close some of the different sized blocks are to eachother, one wonders whether all the helipads are actually accessible.
When I quizzed a work colleague, he pointed out they were for rescue situations should a block catch fire..........the only problem being is there is no rescue helicopter service in Sharjah.....mmh........

Health Screening for a Residency visa

Definitely my worst experience of Sharjah were my medical tests as part of the Residency visa process.
I was taken by one of the company drivers to small complex (The Sharjah Ministry for Preventative Medecine) on the edge of the city - I guess it was the size of small UK cottage hospital. It has 4 areas physical examination clinic, blood test clinic, x ray clinic and admin area with separate facilities for men and women.
Now fill it with 1500-3000 people from every nation of the world with countless language trying to fin their way through screening process (obviously in Arabic). A real recipe for chaos and where any concept of order and queueing. To be frank the staff were overrun and very stressed.
I managed the first day to get my examination and blood test done , but gave up on the xray because the queue was very long for a 40 ft Container, outside in the very hot yard, with an xray machine. I went back the next day at 0730 for teh x-ray and still waited (luckily inside) for 90 mins for a chest xray. I found out during the wait, that the outside container is for construction workers and the inside for supervisiors and management........
Anyway I am told the Dubai process is a lot more calmer and organised but Sharjah still has some way to go to achieve acceptable standards.