First Emirati surgeon aimed to benefit his country

As a young man, Dr Najeeb Al Khaja wanted to benefit his country by majoring in a field that was needed immensely by his people.

Al Khaja is the first Emirati heart surgeon, making him a pioneer in the UAE’s medical field.

Obtaining a medical degree at a time when universities and the field itself did not exist in the UAE was difficult, he told Gulf News everyone who wanted to pursue higher education in the 70s had to travel abroad.

“I spent 15 years of my life abroad pursuing my education. I first studied in Ain Al Shams University in Egypt, where I majored in heart surgery in 1982, I then went to Sweden’s Gothenburg university, where I obtained the Swedish Board Certificate, specialising in cardiology and chest surgery, in 1991.”

Al Khaja came back to the UAE and established the first independent and integrated department for cardiology surgery in Dubai Hospital.

“It was a great challenge to establish the programme because we had to start from zero.”

Original article by Noor Nazzal

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First Emirati surgeon aimed to benefit his country