Personal Details/Academic Background

Born on December 8th, 1947, Dr. Abdulla Ibrahim Al Khayat is one of the first UAE national doctors to specialize in the pediatrics and is a well-known figure in the country’s multi-cultural society. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1970 from the University of Cairo. 

 

He did his Diploma in Child Health (DCH) in 1972, also from Cairo. In 1979, he obtained Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Pediatrics from Cairo. He is a Professor at the Faculty of Pediatrics, Dubai Medical College since February 2007. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health (UK) and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (London). In 2004, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is a Member of the Gulf Chapter of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland since May 2004. He was made an honorary member of the World Wide Genius Handicapped Organisation (WWGHO) in June 2004.

 

He also served as an Examiner for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health since March 2005. In August 2005, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (UK).From 1980 onwards, Senior Registrars, Senior House Officers, Residents and Interns have been training under his supervision at the Rashid, Dubai and Al Wasl Hospitals.He was nominated to train a Specialist Senior Registrar from the UK during her CSST tenure at the Al Wasl Hospital. Elective medical students from international centres are posted under his supervision for training during their attachment periods.

 

 

Professional Milestones

 

Dr. Abdulla worked at the Cairo University and the Ministry of Public Health Hospital from September 1970 to August 1971 followed by another assignment as the Resident Medical Officer (Pediatrics) at Abu El Reeish Kaser El Aini Paediatric Hospital, University of Cairo, from November 1971 for a year.

He returned home and joined the Rashid Hospital to work as a Senior House Officer (Pediatrics) from December 1972 for a year. He attended the Internal Medicine Course of the Edinburgh Post-Graduate Board for Medicine, from January to May 1974 followed by a Clinical Medicine Course at the Edinburgh University from July to September during the same year. During his stay in the UK, he worked as a Clinical Assistant (Medical Pediatrics) at the Western General Hospital and Leith Hospital in Edinburgh in 1974. This was followed by a five-month stint as a Clinical Assistant (Pediatrics) at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh in 1975. He was the Registrar in Pediatrics in Kaser El-Aini-Abu El Reeish Pediatric Hospital in September 1975 and continued until November 1979 (during MD training).

Back home again, he took up the job as a Senior Registrar in Pediatrics at the Rashid Hospital, Dubai in February 1980 and worked until March 1983.He was promoted and made a Pediatric Consultant and the same hospital in March 1983. He worked until December 1984 and at the Dubai Hospital from January 1985 to December 1986. He later moved to the Al Wasl Maternity and Pediatric Hospital in January 1987 and worked till December 1999 as the Consultant and In Charge of Pediatrics. From October 2000 to December 2001, he held the position of Assistant Hospital Director (Medical Affairs) at the Al Wasl Maternity and Pediatric Hospital. He later took up the responsibility of Consultant Pediatrician and Head of Pediatric Department of Al Wasl Maternity and Pediatric Hospital between 2000- 2002. He also worked as the Director of Thalassemia Centre from December 2001 to March 2006. He served as the Director of Al Wasl Maternity and Pediatric Hospital from 2001 to 2009. He was promoted and made Senior Consultant in Pediatrics in Al Wasl Maternity and Pediatric Hospital since March 2005 and was made the Chief Executive Officer of Al Wasl Maternity and Paediatric Hospital in October 2009.

 

 

 

Major achievements

 

Dr. Abdulla has several publications and research articles to his credit. He authored a book in Arabic language entitled “The Baby and the Life” in 1990. He supervised the preparation of the Infection Control Policy and Guidelines for Use in the government-run hospitals in Dubai in 1999. As Chairman of DOHMS Drug and Therapeutic committee, he was involved in the publication of the 2007 edition of the DOHMS formulary.

A regular as a guest speaker and panelist at medical and health conferences, Dr. Abdulla gave lectures at the Institute of Nursing, Department of Health & Medical Services, from 1982 to 1986. He also lectured on Congenital Heart Disease, Cardiomyopathy and Heart Diseases in Children at the General Practitioner courses organized by the Emirates Medical Association EMA) and UAE’s Ministry of Health in 1984,1985 and 1998,respectively.

He also conducted the Tropical Medicine Course in Anemia organized by Department of Health and Medical Services, incorporated with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine from 1985 to 1986. In 1987, he chaired the second Cardiology Conference, second UAE Pediatric Conference on Emergency. At the first Pediatric Conference in Dubai in 1988, organized by DOHMS, he presented a paper on Diagnostic Approach of Neonatal Congenital Heart Disease.

He attended several medical conferences including the 10th Cardiology Congress in Vienna, Austria, in September 1988 and International Course on Advances in Cardiac Ultrasound in Beri, Italy, in May 1989.

He enlightened the participants of the second Pediatric Conference in Dubai in November 1989 through his research paper on Unusual Lead Poisoning in UAE Infants. In the following year, he presented a paper on Patent Ductus Asteriosus at the first Pan Arab Conference of Cardiology in Cairo. He also attended the third Annual Congress of the Union

of Arab Pediatric Societies in Cairo in December 1991 and the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Paris, France, in June 1993. He was also a member of the Scientific Committee of the XXII Congress of the Union of the Middle-Eastern & Mediterranean Pediatric Societies held in November 1994.

He represented the country at the annual meeting of the Association of European Pediatric Cardiologists at Goteborg, Sweden in 1996, European Respiratory System Annual Congress in Stockholm, in September 1996, the second World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery in Honolulu, Hawaii, in May 1997. In the same year, he attended the 24th Conference of the Union of Middle-Eastern & Mediterranean Pediatric Societies in Nice Acropolis, France. He was also the Chairman of the Scientific Committee and Chairman of Rehab, 2nd International Exhibition & Congress on Rehabilitation, in Dubai, in March 1998. He was the vice Chairman of the second Arabian Gulf Medical Associations Conference & Exhibition, in Abu Dhabi, in October 2000. He was the Chairperson for the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences in November 2000.

 

 

Responsibilities/Assignments

 

He is a former chairman of the Central Committee for Control of Hospital Infection at DOHMS and also a former secretary of the DOHMS’ Medical Research Committee. He is a Founder Member of the Thalassemia Centre in Dubai and Emirates Medical Association since January 1982. He served as the Chairman of Emirates Medical Association, from 1990 to 1993. He is the Chairman of the Dubai Centre for Special Needs since 1994. He is also a former member of the Board of Trustees of Sheikh Hamdan International Award for Medical Excellence. He is an Examiner for the MRCPCH exams held in UAE since 9th March 2005 and a member of the Medical Advisory Board, Ministry of Health, Dubai, since April 2006, Member of the Premarital Screening Committee of the Ministry of Health, Dubai, UAE since March 2006, Member of the Emirates Medical Council of the Ministry of Health, Dubai, UAE since June 2005 and member of CEO’s council of Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, since 6th May 2010. He is an Associate Professor at the Academic Department of Pediatrics at the Dubai Medical College for Girls since April 2004.

 

 

 

Awards and Recognitions

 

• The Cultural and Scientific Association Sheikh Rashid Prize for Academic Distinction, 1989

• Founding Member’s Award during the commemoration of 15 years of the Foundation of the Emirates Medical Association,1996

• Dubai Government Excellence Award for Best Supervisor, 2001

• Rashid Hospital Appreciation award for 30 years of service in DOHMS

• During his tenure as the Hospital CEO, the Al Wasl Hospital was successful in the Joint Commission International Accreditation in September 2007 and its Re-accreditation in October 2010

• Al Wasl Hospital had participated in the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP) and Hospitals of DHA had received a DGEP Award in the Distinguished Category Given his innumerable contributions to the advancement of healthcare

services in the UAE and commendable work in various capacities, Dr. Abdullah Al Khayat deserves the Hamdan Award for Individuals Working in the Field of Medicine and Health.