On the cutting edge of hospital care, for camels

A $10.9 million hospital designed to treat camels -- and only camels -- has opened in Dubai, with local veterinarians stating it provides state of the art treatment for the desert animal. 

"There are a lot of equine hospitals because horses have existed for centuries and their races have long existed so they had to have hospitals for it, but for camels, no. We here are very interested in preserving our heritage and we found that we must care for camels, not only by breeding and raising them, but also by being able to medically treat them," the hospital director said.

Camel racing is common in several countries but this hospital says its been difficult to find equipment specific to the desert beast, having to custom order it.

Now they have an operating theater and x-ray room, with MRI and CAT scan facilities coming next year.

It also has a small race track to help rehabilate patients.

Hospital staff come from as far away as the United Kingdom and and Mexico.

They say they plan to also conduct medical research to better understand nuances of camel biology.