Enaam Alnaemi

Enaam Saleh Alnaemi is the Assistant Executive Director of Nursing in the Emergency Department at Hamad General Hospital.

She earned a master’s degree in health leadership and nursing management in Britain in 2014, followed by a Georgetown University master’s degree in disaster management in Doha in 2019.

She spent a quiet childhood in a traditional, conservative Qatari family in Al Kheesa. Close in age to her brothers, including her twin, she often joined their games and preferred them to those usually chosen by girls. Although she did not consider herself an outstanding pupil and found English difficult, she had a distinctive character at home and beyond it. Her mother worked tirelessly to raise five children and encourage them towards education and employment, despite limited means; her father was a mechanic at Doha Port. Their example gave her a strong commitment to diligence, precision and hard work.

Quiet and reserved in manner, she was also tenacious. She attended more than one institute to improve her English, challenging herself and developing a competitive resolve to equal—and then surpass—the standards around her.

Her schooling began at Al Khaleej Al Arabi School through Year Four, followed by Granada Primary School, Al Taawun Preparatory School and Al Shaima Secondary School.

She had no settled career plan at secondary school until Sheikha Moza bint Nasser visited Al Shaima and spoke about the importance of nursing, encouraging Qatari women to enter the profession. The field had not previously been visible to her. Although she could not enter nursing school at that point, the encounter changed her direction; she remained in the science stream and later studied nursing at university.

Becoming the only Qatari nurse in the Emergency Department was an achievement in itself. She progressed through every level—from nurse and charge nurse to head nurse, nursing director and executive leadership—acquiring the practical experience needed for each responsibility through long hours, determination and a sustained commitment to the profession.

Early in her career, she worked with the armed forces, completed a number of training courses and took part in disaster exercises. She served with the Internal Security Force, Lekhwiya, training its first rescue team, which included several officers. She also participated in the ‘Saqr Al-Jarih’ exercise with Dr Abdul Wahab Al-Musleh, the former Director of the Emergency Department, whose support was particularly important in developing her expertise in disaster response.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she helped establish a field hospital in less than four months under the supervision of Dr Khaled Abdul Nour, the former Emergency Director. The work strengthened her ability to respond to the demands of a major public-health emergency.

Her role required her to lead and train employees of different nationalities and levels while helping manage the hospital. The flexibility with which she worked across those differences earned the confidence of senior colleagues and reinforced her belief that nursing is a humanitarian mission before it is a job.

Opening the new Hamad Emergency facility on schedule, despite substantial obstacles, became one of her foremost professional achievements. Completing postgraduate study in Britain while carrying many other commitments was an equally important personal source of pride.

English remained an early obstacle and became more demanding at university, where large textbooks and all instruction were in the language. A second challenge was entering nursing without her family’s knowledge: because they viewed the profession unfavourably, she initially told them that she was taking general courses.

When the family discovered her specialism, they asked her to change it, but she persisted until they accepted her decision. After joining Hamad’s Emergency Department in 2002, she again resisted pressure to move to a women-only unit. She also had to convince some Qatari patients that a Qatari nurse could perform the work to the highest standard. Over time, patients began asking for her specifically, overturning assumptions through demonstrated competence.

In 2018, she was assigned to oversee the opening of a new building despite having no previous experience of such a project. She initially hesitated, then studied extensive references, sought help from the Hamad Hospital team and accepted the intense, continuous workload. Completing the opening successfully turned one of the most difficult periods of her career into a major institutional achievement.