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By Mahee Mustafa
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American Hospital Dubai is a 254-bed private acute-care hospital established in 1996, providing medical and surgical services across more than 40 specialties. Part of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, it serves patients through its main hospital and wider network in Dubai. It has been a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network since 2016.
American Hospital Dubai combines American clinical standards with a long-term commitment to the UAE. How has that shaped the institution’s development?
American Hospital Dubai was the first hospital in the region to introduce American standards and expertise. It is also the only private hospital here investing in both research and education. The ownership model matters: the family is concerned with legacy and what the institution contributes to Dubai, the UAE and the wider region—not simply the next financial return. Their view is straightforward: without Dubai and the UAE, there is no American Hospital Dubai.
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That perspective allows us to invest at a level comparable with government hospitals. Over time, we have become a destination for complex cases—often for patients whose treatment has failed elsewhere. In cancer, orthopedics, pediatrics and cardiothoracic care, our ambition is to be the last hope. In cardiothoracic medicine, 100 percent of the team—cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiac surgeons—is American board-certified.
American Hospital Dubai joined the Mayo Clinic Care Network in 2016. What does that partnership involve in practice?
If you want to benefit from an international collaboration, you should not reduce it to a logo or marketing campaign. We use Mayo Clinic’s expertise to support patients, obtain second opinions, cross-check difficult cases and strengthen governance. Much of that work is not outwardly visible, but patients feel it in the standard of their care.
I place particular emphasis on nursing because it remains a major challenge in the Middle East. I do not simply want our nurses to complete a training course; I want them to absorb the culture and mindset of the American health care system. Its central advantage is flexibility: it encourages clinicians to think beyond fixed structures and look for something new and better. That mindset, rather than the name alone, is what we want to embed across the group.
American Hospital Dubai has invested heavily in robotic surgery and expanded its da Vinci program with Intuitive. How do you determine whether a new technology justifies its cost?
We were the first hospital to introduce robotic surgery in Dubai and the first in the UAE to implement the da Vinci Xi. We now have two Xi systems, the da Vinci SP and the region’s only single-port program, with the da Vinci 5 arriving next month. By November, we plan to open a day-case robotic center in a shopping mall. We did not begin by asking how quickly the robot would pay for itself. We began with surgical quality, patient experience and clinical outcomes. Once those improve, volume and profit follow.
A program of that scale cannot be built alone. Intuitive has brought expertise in surgeon training and program development. The best way to extend an institution’s influence is to train surgeons and see them carry that expertise elsewhere. Robotic cardiothoracic surgery is no longer an isolated milestone for us; it is routine. Other programs have stopped, but ours has continued, with excellent results.
As the group expands beyond Oud Metha, how are you deciding what services remain centralized and what moves closer to patients?
A new campus must extend the vision of the main hospital, not compete with it. The purpose is to continue the patient journey across hospitals and satellite clinics while keeping the most complex services where the full infrastructure already exists. Oud Metha will therefore remain the center for cancer and cardiothoracic care.
Science Park will act as a feeder for those services while building centers of excellence in orthopedics and pediatrics. The next phase, due to be announced in September, includes two hospitals beside Science Park: one dedicated to orthopedics and sports medicine, and another focused on women and children. The network should make care more accessible without fragmenting it.
Where is AI delivering practical value in the hospital’s clinical or operational work?
I believe in combining AI with the human brain. I am not investing blindly in technology or buying systems simply to reduce headcount. I see AI as an additional assistant for our staff and physicians—something that increases their capacity and gives them better information. The most immediate value is in monitoring patients after discharge, particularly those who still require close clinical oversight. We will soon launch a remote ICU model designed to bring intensive monitoring into the patient’s home.
Innovation also has to move diagnosis earlier. Through our cooperation with Abbott, American Hospital Dubai will become the first private health care provider in Dubai to introduce next-generation technology for early-stage cancer detection. Earlier diagnosis can materially improve cancer outcomes and help the UAE advance its wider cancer-care objectives.
What must Dubai do to compete globally for patients requiring complex care?
Dubai has had a clear strategy for years. In 2019, it became the world’s highest-investing city in health care and technology relative to income and by percentage. That preparation mattered during COVID: the system was ready and did not collapse. The city has also built the infrastructure needed to attract international expertise. A surgeon will not leave an institution such as Mayo Clinic unless the destination offers advanced technology, research, teaching programs and a credible educational vision.
Our challenge is not to compete with the best hospital in the UAE, but with the best hospitals in the world. American Hospital Dubai also has a responsibility beyond its own performance. We are part of the UAE, and our role is to help raise standards across the health care sector, not simply within our own hospitals.
You argue that patient value and commercial performance are not opposing goals. What does that look like in practice?
Yesterday, a child from the Gulf was in our pediatric ICU. The cost was rising each day, and the father asked us to move the child to a normal ward because he could no longer afford intensive care. We insisted that the child remain in the pediatric ICU but charged the family the cost of a normal ward. That is not charity. It is what happens when the patient and clinical outcome are your first concern. You can reduce costs elsewhere, but not at the expense of care.
A not-for-profit philosophy should mean reinvesting profit in the institution; it should not mean accepting permanent losses or billions in debt. Once we focused more heavily on quality standards and made major investments in the hospital, our profit increased by as much as 10 times in both percentage and amount. You do not lose by focusing on quality, patient satisfaction and the patient’s interest. Quality brings quantity—and quantity brings profit.
This article has been paid for by a third party. The views and opinions expressed are not those of Newsweek and are not an endorsement of the products, services or persons mentioned.
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