“Over six dozen people who returned from the Middle East and the Gulf after suffering from renal failure have been undergoing dialysis at our centre,” Bimal Baral, deputy administrative director at the Centre, told the Post. “The number of renal patients seeking dialysis at our Centre alone is huge [around 700] and among them, people who once served as migrant workers in the Middle East are in significant numbers.”

Doctors at the centre attributed exposure to excessive heat, dehydration, and the trend of having energy drinks immediately after returning from work as the main culprits for renal failure.

“Continuous exposure to excessive heat, chronic dehydration [a condition when dehydration recurs for longer periods], and harsh work environment could be responsible for high renal failure and other health-related problems in migrant workers,” said Dr Nabin Bahadur Basnet, a senior consultant nephrologist at the Centre...

The report showed that the Gulf states are set to experience significant increases in the number of extremely hot days even if the global warming is kept at 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, and potentially catastrophic increases, if global warming reaches 3ºC...

The report comes as the UAE prepares to host COP28, the crucial UN global climate conference in November...

[Nicholas McGeehan, co-director of FairSquare and member of the Vital Signs Partnership, the publisher of the report] added: “It is necessary and welcome that there will be a focus at COP on the health impacts of climate change. As part of that discussion, the UAE and other Gulf states should be prepared to address the appalling impact of their systematic failure to provide basic protection to the people whose labour sustains their extremely wealthy societies.”