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A doctor in Perth built almost single-handedly two hospitals and stepped forward breathing in Iraq.
An NHS Tayside who fled Iraq explained how he now divides his time between running in Iraq and Perth.
The inspirational doctor spends a third of his time running in his home country, where he has set up a training hospital and lung institute that sets up specialized treatment previously unavailable in Iraq.
And when he’s not in Iraq or seeing patients at the Royal Infirmary in Perth, respiratory representative Mudher Al-Khairalla is an educational doctor around the world.
Dr. Al-Khairalla’s parents are from ThiQar province, which includes the city of Nasiriyah. Nasiriyah is located between Baghdad and Basra.
His circle of relatives fled Iraq when Saddam Hussein came to power.
Mudher grew up in Yorkshire before that as a respiratory doctor at NHS Tayside.
But he never forgot his remaining people and longed to return and help rebuild Iraq.
He said: “My mother passed away in 2013, but she was instrumental in the concept of humanity and the idea of the less fortunate.
“She put a lot of that in my head at an age and helped me get there. “
And when Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled in 2003, Mudher seized the opportunity to return.
She explained, “I started visiting in 2003 when nutrition replaced – like a circle of relatives but regularly only – two or 3 times a year. “
It was at this time that he was able to start classifying documents and creating networks and connections.
In 2013, while standing as a representative in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, he and his circle of relatives made the decision to quit their jobs, sell the family circle house and move with his wife and 3 daughters to Iraq.
In 2015, he put his center and soul into creating a state-funded hospital, Nasiriyah University Hospital, with a branch specializing in respiratory medicine. Construction took years.
It also attracted investments in a personal specialty hospital, the ThiQar Institute of Lung Diseases, funded through shareholders who “agreed to adapt it to help the state-funded one. “
The recruitment of tertiary hospital care is home to 15 million people.
To put this in context, Perth Royal Infirmary serves approximately 182,000 people.
Asked what the 15 million Iraqis were in shape before his intervention, Mudher replied: “They were not the ones they could have enjoyed now. Certainly not. “
“It was very remote and existing internal medicine specialists covered the basics of respiratory diseases. There were no specialized breathing services.
Respiratory diseases are “similar” to those seen in the UK. But there is a higher burden of some infectious diseases, such as pulmonary tuberculosis, where Dr. Al-Khairalla said he can see “three or five cases a day” in Iraq by comparison. to “less than 30 instances a year in Tayside”.
He said: “It’s much busier than Perth, that’s all you’d see here and more!”
And the creation of two hospitals, almost alone, is no small feat.
He said: “The demanding situations are many. The fitness formula works differently.
“It used to be a state-funded NHS formula of around £4,000 consistent with the capita consistent with the year compared to Iraq, where it’s $130 consistent with the capita.
“So, obviously, there’s a big hole between the two, and that’s why you have a thriving personal fitness sector. “
When Mudher took over the Iraqi government two years ago, there were fears for his protection and that of his family.
Mudher said: “There were non-public protection issues when I was appointed fitness minister in 2020 because some other people weren’t enthusiastic about me doing a lot of fitness care reforms and focusing on regulating fitness care itself so it’s not too exorbitant. “
He added: “The fact that Iraqi and British cultures have also clashed a bit with them. “
This led him to cheer up and return to the UK and this time settle down, which he affectionately describes as, the “beautiful region of Perthshire” with his family.
Today, his paintings in Iraq have more of an educational role as he now has an educational program director there.
He said: “I hope that over the next five years we will practice around 40 respiratory medicine specialists in Iraq.
“It will make a big difference, so not just Mudher, there will be 40 little Mudhers, men and women!”
And its young prodigies are limited to Iraq.
Mudher said, “I have interaction with many of my interns around the world: Malaysia, Africa, Southeast Asia, India. . . And I am the regional representative of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, Iraq and also foreign president of examiners.
This month, he is examining interns in the Emirates. Next year, he hopes to take an exam in Hong Kong or Jamaica.
Their long-term plans are either more local.
Mudher said: “I hope to exercise many more exercised, take on some of the demanding situations that Perth also faces and do a little more in terms of foreign exams.
“So, maybe in five or six years, if any other opportunity arises, to be influential within the Ministry of Health in physical care reform.
“I have a plan, which has been reported by the WHO [World Health Organization], that would work quite well in Iraq, so I’m refining and modifying it. “
Last month, Mudher was recognised for his global achievements when he won the NHS Tayside Gold Award for Global Citizenship.
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