Sharing Excellence
At the Heart Meet Dr. Amin Alamiri, the Ministry of Health’s Medicine Man By Shannon Wylie
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QUAL PARTS HEALTH advocate and medical advisor, Dr. Amin Al Amiri is the Assistant Undersecretary of Public Health Policy and Licensing at the Ministry of Health, a position he has held since 2006. Dr Al Amiri is responsible for the Medical Licensing and Advertising Regulation department, the Drug department and the Empowerment and Health Care Compliance department within the Ministry of Health. His Excellency also oversees all Public Health Policies within the Ministry. Dr. Al Amiri also has several voluntary commitments, which he actively supports alongside his current position. One of the most notable among these is his role as Secretary General of the Sharjah Voluntary Award, which he has held for 13 years. Not to mention he has also had many publications published in the field of blood transfusion medicine in local and international journals. Moreover he’s been awarded for his vast voluntary services by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Executive Office and the Arab League, as well as receiving the Sheikh Rashid Award for Culture and Science.
Issue 5 - MAY 2015
However, his roots are much more deep seeded in the country’s future of ‘fitness’ following his initial inauguration back in April 1985. Since joining the Ministry, Dr. Al Amiri has insisted on turning matters of health into pulse points that would eventually see the Emirates become a leader in many forward thinking health plans namely blood transfusion, his area of specialty. Now thirty years on, almost to the date, and we’re meeting with Dr. Al Amiri exclusively to discuss the Emirates’ successful state of health, legislation and the future of healthcare in the UAE. “Anything that relates to human health is a top priority,” begins Dr. Al Amiri. “But we’re not just focusing on Emiratis, everyone who lives in the UAE, who we consider to be part of our nation, part of our family, is important and therefore we work as one, together. However if we are to talk about importance, blood transfusion has a top priority because without sufficient supplies of safe blood you can’t save a human’s life because there is no substitute for blood transfusion or blood components anywhere in the world.” Dr. Al Amiri has been at
the forefront of blood transfusion, a department he proudly acknowledges is now ‘fifth best worldwide’ after he first stepped foot into the sector in 1986. “We were the first country to have a double accreditation for blood transfusion. I was also the first Emirati to be a Director and then Assistant Undersecretary to handle this sector.” Moreover when asked what spurs him on to fight new frontiers in the field of medicine, Dr. Al Amiri replied: “Here you get a taste of your work, you know that you’re doing something for humanity, and for patients, you’re helping to save human lives and you can really feel it.” But his achievements don’t stop there.