One of Dubai’s first doctors has passed away at the age of 87. Dr Moawia Al Shannar has spent more than half a century treating and serving the people. Tributes are flowing in for the veteran doctor.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, gave his consolations to the family.
In a tweet, Sheikh Maktoum stated how the doctor contributed towards establishing family medicine in Dubai. “Pioneers such as Dr Moawia will live on in the remembrance of Dubai society.”
The UAE Minister of Health and Prevention, Abdulrahman bin Mohammad Al Owais, said that Dr Moawia was among the first in Dubai to practice medicine in the private sector in the early 1960s.
The minister also recalled the accomplishments of the deceased while describing him as a role model in the field of medicine.
Al Owais gave his deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, praying to God that his soul may rest in eternal peace and also grant his family with solace and patience.
Dr Moawia was buried on Tuesday, 12 April, in Al Quoz Cemetary.
He left behind his wife, Dr Zainab Kazim, two daughters and two sons: Dr Amal, Dr Buthaina, Saleh and Omar.
The doctor was born in 1935 and was brought up in the city of Nablus, where he finished his school education with honour’s before going to Egypt to pursue his studies further in medicine at Ain Shams University.
After finishing his education at university, he moved to the UAE in the early 1960s to start his medical career at Al Kuwait Hospital in Deira before going to the hospital’s Ras Al Khaimah branch.
In a statement, his daughter Buthaina said he never turned away a patient who could not afford medicine. “He used to offer free medicine to people in need and help the vulnerable,” she said.