Oasis Hospital, Al Ain

Oasis Hospital is a hospital in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, that was established in 1960 by the American missionary couple Drs. Pat and Marian Kennedy. It is the oldest hospital in Al Ain and is currently a 200 bedded facility owned by CURE International.

History

Inaugurated in November, 1960, the Oasis Hospital was the first institution to offer modern medical care in the entire emirate of Abu Dhabi.^[1] It was established by the American medical duo Pat and Marian Kennedy at the invitation of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who was then the Governor of Al Ain. At the time of its establishment, Al Ain had very high infant and maternal mortality rates, with as many as one in two infants and one in three women dying for want of adequate medical care. So drastic was the impact of the hospital in reducing mortality that a simple wooden foetal heart monitor was chosen in 2011 as one of the 40 objects that shaped modern UAE by the National newspaper.^[1]

The Hospital initially operated out of a mud building, a guest house that was donated by Sheikh Zayed. A modest cement building housing patients' rooms and a nurses' station was constructed in 1964. Up until the 1970s when it added facilities like X-ray, a delivery suite and staff housing, facilities at the hospital remained rudimentary. In 1985, facilities for paediatrics, surgery and obstetrics were added to the hospital.^[2]

In 2009, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE, granted 135 million dirhams as a grant-in-aid towards expanding the facilities at the hospital. By August 2015, the hospital aims to more than double its capacity by becoming a 100-bed hospital with an additional 20 NICU beds and 7 Intermediate Care Unit beds.^[3] The new facility enhances outpatient and inpatient services by adding neonatology and maternal fetal medicine and expanding our pediatric services.^[4]

Oasis Hospital celebrated its golden jubilee in 2010. In that time, it had contributed to reducing IMR and MMR in Al Ain to under one percent and has birthed over 100,000 children besides providing accessible healthcare to the Bedu tribes of Al Ain and nearby towns of Oman.^[5][6]

Facilities

Oasis Hospital is one of the UAE's best maternity and pediatric hospitals. In 2006, the Hospital was acquired by CURE International. The hospital became the first non-government hospital in the emirate of Abu Dhabi to receive the Joint Commission International Accreditation in 2007 and was re-accredited in 2010 and 2013.^[7] The hospital has specialised men's, women's and children's health centres and, as of June 2015, has departments of anesthesiology, ENT, ophthalmology, general surgery, pediatrics, pediatric cardiology, urology, obstetrics, endocrinology and radiology.^[8]

Currently, Oasis Hospital handles 175,000 outpatients, admits 7600 patients and performs 3000 deliveries per year. Thanks to a generous gift from the Al Nahyan family, a new facility opened in 2015 and features expanded bed space, a state of the art birthing center, and 20 NICU beds.^[9][10]

References