Long before paved roads connected Al Ain to the rest of the country, before all the palm trees, buildings and hospitals, there was a young boy with a gas lamp guiding two foreign doctors through the desert.
Ibrahim Al Bloushi was around 12 years old when Dr Pat and Dr Marian Kennedy first arrived in Al Ain in 1960.
There was no official record of his age then, and the couple believed he may have been closer to fourteen, but what everyone was sure of is that he was a curious and energetic young boy.
He hovered around their makeshift camp, fascinated by the arrival of Western doctors in a place where formal healthcare was almost non-existent.
The Kennedys came to depend on Ibrahim. He became their guide, their translator and eventually a permanent fixture in what would become first Oasis Hospital and, today, Kanad Hospital.
This month's edition of Emirati focuses on Ibrahim's story and the 65th anniversary of a hospital that has become emblematic of the UAE's healthcare system.
The birthplace of President Sheikh Mohamed, it has a rich and unique history and it continues to invest and innovate to this day.
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The remarkable story of Sheikh Mohamed's birthplace - by the boy who kept the wolves from its door
Beginning as a small clinic in 1960, the first hospital in Abu Dhabi emirate at the time was established at the request of UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Zayed recognised the urgent need for maternal and newborn care in a region where infant mortality was high and medical services were scarce, so he invited the Kennedys to set it up.
Kanad Hospital today spans more than 26,000 square metres, employs staff of 44 nationalities and treats more than 250,000 patients annually.
Ibrahim was a young boy when the Kennedys arrived and asked him to keep the medical equipment safe.
He sat down with The National to reflect on his and the hospital's story, recalling wonderful first-hand memories of Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Mohamed and more.
There were wolves in those days, Ibrahim said, they would come at night. He would scare them away, banging on pots and pans so they would run and he quickly proved himself dependable to the Kennedys.
“We would go as far as Musandam and up the mountains of Jebel Hafeet,” he said, describing journeys in Land Rovers donated by Sheikh Zayed.
There were no roads then. Travel meant navigating desert tracks between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
At night, Ibrahim would carry a gas lamp, guiding the doctors to patients who could not reach the hospital – often women in labour. “It was a simple life,” he says. “But it was full of love.”
Did you know?
The UAE passport climbed to its highest-ever position in the Henley Passport Index this month. Read more here
Abu Dhabi's cutting-edge biobank hailed as 'missing link' in precision healthcare vision
A cutting-edge Abu Dhabi healthcare hub housing a trove of biological samples and data has been described as the “missing link” in the quest to advance precision medicine and address the root cause of disease.
The Abu Dhabi Biobank – which was inaugurated this month – is central to the emirate's vision to accelerate a shift from reactive care to tailored, preventive treatments to improve the lives of patients.
The facility, based in Masdar City, has a storage capacity of more than 100,000 umbilical cord blood samples and five million human samples.
It is home to a wide range of biological materials, including DNA samples, reproductive cells such as eggs and sperm, cord blood and stem cells, as well as tumour and broader human tissue samples. These are also digitised, enabling secure access for research and clinical use.
Emirati recovers after rare stroke mistaken for headache
An Abu Dhabi resident has made a full recovery after suffering a rare type of stroke that initially presented as a severe headache and was not detected in early examinations.
Emirati Rashed Al Kaabi, 41, first experienced symptoms in January, shortly after finishing his evening prayer.
“It felt like something hit me hard on the head,” Mr Al Kaabi said. “It was a headache I had never felt in my life.”
At the time, he was preparing to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, who was seven months pregnant. Despite the severity of the pain, Mr Al Kaabi initially tried to manage it at home.
About 13 hours after the pain began, he went to the emergency department. Doctors conducted neurological checks, including balance and vision tests, which appeared normal.
By the fourth day, the pain became unbearable. He went to the emergency department at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi where doctors ordered a CT scan which revealed bleeding at the back of his brain.
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