News
Dubai Hospital Delivery Drone Completes Successful First Trial
The unmanned aerial vehicle allows the hospital to rapidly deliver medications to patients, saving lives in emergencies.
Fakheeh University Hospital in Dubai has made history by flying a delivery of medicine to a patient’s house in Cedre Villas (Dubai Silicon Oasis) using a small, unmanned drone.
The groundbreaking achievement followed a series of trials in collaboration with the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) and the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA).
The introduction of drone deliveries represents a significant shift in healthcare accessibility. The small aerial craft could also prove life-saving in emergency situations, as they can quickly zip to their destination without having to worry about traffic jams or search for helicopter-sized landing spaces.
Fakeeh University Hospital CEO, Dr Fatih Mehmet Gul, was rightfully proud of the technological achievement: “Since our establishment, we have consistently embraced technological advancements to provide innovative services. However, this initiative marks a substantial leap forward in enhancing healthcare accessibility and achieving complete digitalization”.
Drone use also significantly reduces the hospital’s carbon footprint compared to traditional delivery methods — a factor that is especially important to the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority and the 2040 Urban Master Plan.
Also Read: Saudi Aviation Sector Embraces Tech To Meet Vision 2030 Goals
Director-general of Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, said, “In line with our role within the Dubai Programme to Enable Drone Transportation, we are committed to empowering entities from the UAE and abroad to develop and test new drone solutions that boost efficiency and convenience”.
In 2021, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, announced a program that would enable the use of drones in multiple sectors, including shipping, food logistics, health, and security, with the aim of boosting global competitiveness and innovation within the Emirate.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
RØDE’s New DS3 Studio Arm Is Built For Heavier Creator Setups
Dubai Turns AI On Its Own Civil Service To Measure Productivity
Former Rockstar Director Dismisses GTA 6 Leaks As “Nothing Burger”
Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9
Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”
Anghami’s New Elite Program Starts With A Three-Decade Catalog
Qatar Is Getting Its First EV Plant, Built To Cope With Gulf Heat
Dubai’s aradus Wants AI To Run The Back Office Of Physical Trade
Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9
-
News4 weeks agoAnghami’s New Elite Program Starts With A Three-Decade Catalog
-
News4 weeks agoDubai’s aradus Wants AI To Run The Back Office Of Physical Trade
-
News3 weeks agoQatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9
-
News3 weeks agoFormer Rockstar Director Dismisses GTA 6 Leaks As “Nothing Burger”