DR. NAJAH AL ZAYANI

- Founder & Vice-President, Bahrain Specialist Hospital Behind the calm and dignified presence of Dr Najah Al Zayani lies a determined and passionate soul who fought against all odds to become Bahrain’s first woman medical entrepreneur and establish the Hospital. Coming from a long and illustrious line of women pioneers - her father's cousin and her maternal great-grandmother and grandmother were all among the first trained midwives and nurses in Bahrain - Dr Najah knew at age 10, she wanted to be a doctor. In the 1960s, she was one of two women who secured a position in the competitive and prestigious American University of Beirut and went on to study and then teach at Baylor College in the USA. Her success story tells of steely determination and a courageous woman who fought odds and gender bias to reach the top on her own terms.

Healing the gender gap

The accidental medical-entrepreneur Dr. Najah Al Zayani : It was never my aim to set up my own hospital, I want to teach, mentor and build the next generation of doctors in Bahrain. I wanted to raise the level of medicine in my own country. After I came back from Baylor College, I joined the Arabian Gulf University and taught there for five years. Unfortunately, this was a time when Bahrain was lagging behind in the medical field. There were only two big hospitals in Bahrain - Salmaniya and BDF and there was not even enough equipment. I was blocked at every turn by male doctors who went to the extent of locking up the available instruments so that I could not carry out the necessary procedures. But that didn’t stop me - when you are young, you have big dreams and are very resilient. So I bought my own endoscopy machine and together with my assistant we would lug it around on a trolley to the hospital, do our procedure, sanitising the machine and putting it back into the trunk of my car. It weighed around 28 kgs. I did this for five years. And then I joined the American Mission Hospital in 1986 and they too had no endoscopy equipment or an ultrasound machine. The room they gave me was on the roof and the patients had to be wheeled in under the sun. So, I bought a portable ultrasound machine and kept it in my car. My assistant sat in the front seat and the back seat and trunk full of equipment but I had no choice – it was either that or go back to the States.

The call which changed my life Dr. Najah Al Zayani : Then one day, the late Emir, Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (may God bless his soul) called me and told me that he wanted me to start a good private hospital in Bahrain. I told him it was easier said than done and while I did have the expertise and knowledge, I had no finance, other resources or support. He said that I should start small and build it up from there. I was lucky because when I told my late father (may God bless his soul) about this, he threw himself into the project with enthusiasm. Since he wielded a lot of influence in the business community, he contacted many potential financial investors. But this was an ambitious project, and was very hard to get off the ground because shortly after we began, the 1990 Gulf War started and the financial backers got cold feet. Shaikh Isa had very generously given us land to build the hospital but there were no roads near the area. It gave me sleepless nights and one morning, when I couldn’t sleep I came to Juffair for a walk and saw this empty structure which was supposed to be a hotel but was abandoned because of financial difficulties. I contacted the owner and we had our building but that was not the end of it - we had to transform it into a hospital, the requirements are very different. My brother Hamid Al Zayani helped me with that and in 18 months we had our hospital.

The best gift a woman can give her family is her good health Dr. Najah Al Zayani : In traditional societies, women’s health is not taken seriously. Women give more preference to their families, parents and children than they do to themselves. However, this is changing now as more women gain financial independence and higher education. Their self-confidence goes up and they realise they need to take care of themselves. They know there is a lot more at stake for them now. I keep telling my patients, you want to be a good mother but how will you do that if you don't take care of yourself and fall sick. As women try to juggle multiple roles, they face more stress. You can seriously impact your health when you are constantly putting others' needs above yours. Plus we are brought up to feel guilty about not prioritising our family, parents, husband, and children above ourselves. And here is where I think we women have a chance to break the cycle. We must marry the right partner. Someone who will support your dreams and ambitions. I was very lucky to find someone like that - who encouraged me, supported my career choices, and didn’t treat me

like a second-grade citizen. Women have become more intelligent, more confident and more independent and this makes it a very complex dynamic when it comes to finding a right partner who will appreciate these qualities. Empowering Women at Work Dr. Najah Al Zayani : The challenges women face are very different to that of men and we need to realise and acknowledge that. For example when we started out, there were some really talented women on my staff, who because of visa restrictions could not being their family, their children to stay with them in Bahrain. I rang several of my contacts to sort out their living situation for them. A mother who is away from her child cannot give her 100 per cent at work. If they need to take care of aged parent or find the right care-giver for their child, I will help them out. I even get involved if there is a domestic dispute to try and see both sides and come to a compromise. Sometimes all they need is a sister or mother-figure to talk to. And when you do that you are rewarded with amazing success stories - like when I see the achievements of the second generation of the people who work with me - how they have excelled in universities and their level of education far exceeds their parents, it makes me very happy.

Advice to women looking to make a difference Dr. Najah Al Zayani : Be passionate. Be happy about what you are doing or don't do it! Do what you want to do, not what other people want you to do it. If you do something because it pays well or is a prestigious job but your heart’s not in it you are not really going to be happy or make a difference. The day I stop feeling passionately about medicine I will quit. The days I find an unusual diagnosis treatable I am on top of the world. I go home elated. Being a doctor is like being a detective, you have to have the diagnosis, it is like finding the missing piece of the puzzle and I believe I am very good at that. It’s that passion that helps people make a difference in their chosen profession.

AWARD

WBAF Bahrain country office wins World Excellence Award

The newly-established Bahrain presence of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) has won the award of the ‘Country Office of the Year 2020’. This was announced following the conclusion of the WBAF’s 2021 World Congress of Angel Investors held virtually for the first time, where the winners of the forum’s World Excellence Awards were announced. The international jury for the awards selected five institutions and individuals that have distinguished themselves by empowering their local and global economies through entrepreneurship, science, technology and innovation in 2020. WBAF Country Office, Bahrain was named the ‘Country Office of the Year 2020’. It was also announced that the Bahrain Entrepreneurship Organisation (BEO) sponsored a Bahraini start-up’s participation in the congress. “We are delighted that we were able to sponsor Theiab Aldossary’s startup, Felix Haptic Technologies, and wish him all the best onhe global fundraising stage,” said Feryal Nass, who is also BEO chairwoman. “Unido ITPO initiated the introduction of Felix Haptic Technologies to BEO and we are looking forward to supporting Theiab to reach international status,” she added.