Abdullatif Alkhal

Dr Abdullatif Mohamed Alkhal is an infectious-diseases consultant, Head of Infectious Diseases and Director of Medical Education at Hamad Medical Corporation. He led national programmes in epidemic control, chaired Qatar’s strategic health response to Covid-19 and helped develop medical education and communicable-disease services.

He was born in 1962 in Al Baraha, Doha, the second of seven siblings in a traditional, comfortably situated Qatari family. His simple childhood reflected an earlier period of open doors and close neighbourhood solidarity, when a black-and-white television was among the few luxuries. The family had lived in what is now Souq Waqif before moving to Al Baraha two years before his birth, and later moved successively to Al Salata, Al Hitmi near the Corniche, Khalifa City and then Dafna. Their customs and extended-family life remained unchanged. He closely followed his father, accompanying him to the family’s Al Khal building and to the mosque. During Ramadan, his father opened his majlis to poor people and neighbours and hosted meals throughout the year. He served his guests personally rather than sitting at the table, ensuring that they lacked nothing. His example instilled generosity and hospitality in his children.

The family faced no significant financial hardship because his father traded in partnership with his brother, the nakhoda Abdullah Alkhal. They imported goods from India and sold them from the Al Khal building on the Corniche near Souq Waqif. Even so, choices and forms of entertainment were limited, and daily life was simple, healthy and orderly. People began their day after the dawn prayer, ate lunch before noon, rested after the noon prayer and went to bed shortly after the evening prayer. Most members of the family gathered for meals.

That simple way of life created close bonds among relatives and neighbours. Respect, familiarity, affection and cooperation fostered trust and a strong sense of safety, allowing children to spend much of their time playing outside. Television was still uncommon, and summer power cuts were frequent; when an outage continued, the family slept on the roof. The children nevertheless turned the interruptions into entertainment, gathering at the power station to watch technicians restore the supply. Their popular games were simple but memorable, particularly kalina, matawa, khasheesha and teela.

He found role models in many of the people around him and became a serious, thoughtful child whose conduct seemed mature for his age. By observing diligent people and the way they treated others, he learned to speak little and listen closely. This developed his leadership, attentiveness and respect for other viewpoints, as well as his willingness to make allowances for others. His guiding principle was to treat people as he wished to be treated.

He completed primary school at Khalid bin Al-Walid School, preparatory education at Doha Preparatory School and secondary education at Doha Secondary School. Although the schools changed, their values remained consistent: teachers commanded respect, and pupils observed both the institution and its rules. Private schools were not then available, so students from broadly similar social backgrounds knew one another and usually travelled by bus or on foot; few arrived in private cars.

After ranking among Qatar’s ten highest-achieving secondary-school pupils, he intended to study engineering in the United States. At the last moment, however, he chose medicine, despite then having only limited knowledge of a physician’s work or the range of medical specialties.

He was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where he studied for seven years. At only seventeen, he belonged to the relatively small group of Qatari students then studying abroad. Direct flights to most overseas destinations were unavailable, international calls were costly and difficult to arrange, and separation from his family weighed heavily on him. He telephoned them once a week, often waiting ten minutes for a connection. Other Qatari medical students in Ireland at the time included Dr Abdul Wahid Al Mulla, Dr Abdul Aziz Al Khulaifi, Dr Mohamed Al Emadi, Dr Hassan Al Naama, Dr Mohamed Al Ali, Dr Abdul Wahab Al Musleh, Dr Youssef Al Maslamani, Dr Jassim Al Suwaidi, Dr Ahmed Al Mohamed and Dr Hassan Al Thani.

He completed his medical studies with distinction at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1989 as a member of the third cohort of Qatari graduates. Soon after returning to Qatar, he decided to continue his training abroad, encouraged by the institution supporting young Qatari doctors and by his family and the cancer surgeon Dr Hassan Al-Naama—may God have mercy on him. He and his medical-school colleague Dr Ibrahim Al-Janahi, an endocrinology consultant, prepared for a US entrance examination held in Kuwait. Two weeks after they returned, Iraq invaded Kuwait, leaving them anxious both for the country and for their examination papers. About six weeks later, they learned that they had passed. After applications and interviews at several American university hospitals, Alkhal entered an internal-medicine programme at the University of Connecticut’s teaching hospital, where he trained for three years. He then completed a two-year fellowship in infectious diseases at Hartford Hospital. With AIDS then widespread, he wanted to understand the disease and care for people living with it. He earned American Board certification in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease and worked for six months as an infectious-diseases consultant at Hartford Hospital. The hospital invited him to remain, but he declined because he felt a duty to return and serve Qatar.

He was appointed first as an assistant to Dr Ghalia Al Thani and later to Dr Mohamed Salem in the Medical Education Department. The varied responsibilities developed both his experience and his administrative skills.

The Ministry of Health asked him to help lead national infectious-disease programmes responding to outbreaks including SARS, swine flu and Covid-19. He also contributed to tuberculosis control, chaired the National Vaccination Committee and played a major role in developing the immunisation programme, helping Qatar become an early regional and international adopter of several childhood vaccines.

When the coronavirus first began to spread, public understanding of its severity remained limited. The Ministry of Public Health formed a national response team under his leadership, which continued its work from the outset of the pandemic until the World Health Organization declared the end of the global health emergency.

Qatar’s response was swift and robust, placing it among the countries with the lowest pandemic mortality rates. The health system emerged more resilient: medical teams became better prepared for disasters and rapid response, capacity expanded, and cooperation grew among health services, ministries and national academic institutions. Virtual meetings saved time and reduced distance, remote care became practical, and numerous services improved under the pressure of the emergency.

He is proud of his contribution to the Family and Community Medicine programme founded by Dr Hajar Al-Binali; of becoming the first Head of Infectious Diseases; and of helping develop vaccination policy, control tuberculosis and establish the HIV programme he supervised. That programme offered specialised services to people living with the virus. He also supported the Communicable Disease Center from its earliest concept to its development as a distinctive regional facility. Its importance became especially clear during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the source edition records continuing plans to expand it.

He helped establish the Itqan Clinical Simulation and Innovation Center, a major national investment and one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced simulation-training facilities. It recreates the hospital environment so that doctors can train with sophisticated equipment and mannequins, alongside supervised surgical practice involving animals under anaesthesia.

At Hamad Medical Corporation, he helped reorganise doctors’ training and establish programmes with clear international curricula and standards. Accreditation by a US-based international body brought those programmes into line with standards applied in the United States. The Corporation developed nineteen accredited general specialties and eleven accredited subspecialties, with further subspecialties progressing towards accreditation. This work helped establish Hamad Medical Corporation as a respected international centre for training doctors and medical students.

Investment in medical education strengthened Hamad Medical Corporation’s international standing, while board-examination results rose to among the highest success rates. This reflected the combined work of training centres, supervisors and trainers in creating a rigorous academic and scientific environment. Each year, the Corporation attracts approximately 180 distinguished new medical graduates, selected according to strict criteria that include international examinations.

He also served on the committee that established Qatar University’s College of Medicine, which now graduates substantial numbers of highly competent Qatari doctors.

Like his colleagues, he experienced the difficulty of medical specialisation and the patience required by its long course. He came to understand that the real journey begins after medical school rather than ending at graduation, because specialist and subspecialist training continue for many more years.

He spent five years in postgraduate specialist and subspecialist training in the United States. Difficult work and repeated examinations became part of the routine: a physician must continually follow medical developments, attend lectures and seminars and periodically retake American Board examinations. Medicine therefore made him a lifelong student.

The epidemics that emerged periodically were among his most significant professional challenges. Each disrupted his life and routine, most recently Covid-19, which demanded exceptional time and effort. Other difficulties, in his view, formed part of a doctor’s ordinary professional life.