UAE: Doctors react to distress call from abroad, successfully perform spinal surgery on patient

UAE: Doctors react to distress call from abroad, successfully perform spinal surgery on patient

Severe condition had left sufferer with debilitating chronic pain for over nine years

Published: Wed 10 Aug 2022, 7:15 PM

A call seeking help never goes unanswered at hospitals in the UAE. And this one came on SEHA’s telemedicine service from abroad, some 11,000 kilometres away from Abu Dhabi. Doctors from Al Ain’s Tawam Hospital reacted swiftly to the phone call, the patient flew in, and a minimally invasive spinal surgery was successfully performed to ease her severe spinal pain.

Dr M Ziad Aljian, consultant orthopaedic, Tawam Hospital under Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), noted that the patient had been suffering from a severe spinal condition resulting in chronic and debilitating pain for more than nine years. The adverse impact on her quality of life and barriers to care in her home country persuaded her to consider medical tourism.

“The patient reached out to us through our telemedicine service and was in extreme pain at the time of her diagnosis. Our team at Tawam is well-equipped to provide medical assistance to overseas patients in need. The minimally invasive spinal surgery was a success. The patient was mobilised, through physiotherapy, the very next day. She was discharged after three days. In two weeks, she