Persuading her family that working for the military in Afghanistan was a great opportunity to utilise her medical experience was not an easy sell but it did not deter a determined young woman and proved to serve her well.
ABU DHABI // No one was surprised when Mai Al Jaber decided to study medicine. The Emirati had the grades and work ethic to succeed in medical school and thrive as a doctor. But when she told her family she had enlisted to train at a military hospital in Afghanistan, it was a different story.
“They refused, they said resign from the military,” Dr Al Jaber recounts with a laugh.
When nearing the end of medical school at UAE University, she wanted to take advantage of a government programme sponsoring students and guaranteeing them jobs if they enrolled in the Armed Forces.
“My older brother, who is my role model, said, ‘Look, this is your job, if you want to take it, do it. If you want to leave, it’s your call.’ And I said, ‘I’m going’.”
Her brother brought her family on board and Dr Al Jaber was whisked off to a women’s military camp where she slept in barracks, woke at the crack of dawn for roll call and spent her days practising physical and mental drills.
“I had all the military training – shooting, camping in the desert,” says Dr Al Jaber.
In 2010, she travelled to Afghanistan to work for two weeks in a UAE medical clinic.
“They started to send ladies to cover the medical clinic there because we had a lot of Afghan females and they don’t prefer to be examined by a male,” she says.
“We used to get a lot of Afghan patients and they received free treatment from our clinic.”
United States paramedics often transported victims of war to be treated by the UAE doctors at the clinic.
It was quite an impactful experience for Dr Al Jaber.
“We used to see bomb victims with serious injuries and severed limbs, emergency cases that were life-threatening,” she says.
“Sometimes we saw kids, so that was very emotional to us.
“It really influenced my personality,” she admits.
“Facing such cases, you know, you appreciate life and really value the preciousness of life in the moment.”
After returning to the UAE, Dr Al Jaber continued to work for Zayed Military Hospital, where she practised public health.
She was involved in launching a cardiovascular disease prevention programme across all UAE military camps.
“You are talking about thousands of military personnel, even the commanders from the units were participating,” says the 38-year-old.
Dr Al Jaber resigned from the military as a captain and, in 2013, joined Healthpoint in the capital to work as the hospital’s deputy medical director and head of women’s public health initiatives.
However, she did not want to give up practising medicine in favour of administration and continues to treat patients twice a week.
“I prefer working in both,” says Dr Al Jaber.
“I believe that if I were just an administrator, I would miss a lot from the clinical practice.”
Dr Al Jaber says that she starts each new year with the same resolution: to have a better work-life balance.
“But, still, work commitments come first,” she says.
However, as a member of the executive committee of the UAE National Olympic Committee and board member of the -Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Sport Academy, Dr Al Jaber is also a keen participant of -sporting pastimes as well as an advocate.
Sundays are for horse riding, Mondays are for tennis and, on Wednesdays, she cycles at Yas Marina Circuit. “I do sports for fun, and just for a healthy lifestyle,” she says.
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Name: Dr Mai Al Jaber
Age: 38
Why she chose medicine: "Our parents always told us, 'Whenever you can help others, by any means, do it.' We always had this ethos in our family to serve and to help people."
Advice to UAE youth who aspire to be doctors: "I encourage them to meet physicians and to understand the education and training requirements involved in becoming a doctor. My advice for anyone before entering a career; just explore what the profession requires."
What do you do in your spare time: "Visit my family or spend time with good friends because this really has a positive impact on my energy."
Goal: "As a healthcare professional, my goal, of course, is to have a better, healthier population. With the government vision, we are on the right track."
rpennington@thenational.ae