DUBAI: More Emiratis needed to be encouraged to work in the UAE’s health care and medical professions, a leading health education specialist has said.
Speaking to Arab News at an international conference on medical education, Professor Mohammed Al-Houqani, assistant dean for education and academic affairs at United Arab Emirates University, said that only 5 percent of Emiratis now worked in health care.
“We see more local girls opting for medical education. Boys still prefers business studies or other professions where one can finish education faster and start earning in good numbers,” he said.
The four-day International Conference on Medical Education (ICME) concluded at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Center. During the summit, more than 1,000 medical education experts from 56 countries discussed applying international training standards in the UAE.
Professor Al-Houqani said the six medical schools in the country were sufficient to fulfil current requirements.
Hassan Mohammed Khan, chancellor of Riphah International University and founder of ICME, said the quality of medical education is directly related to health care and patient safety in any country.
“Medical education is evolving every day, and the only way to keep oneself up to date is through academic and professional interaction. In medicine, excellence is a journey and not an end. It is a lifelong pursuit,” he said.
Medical education is expensive across the world, Khan said.
“America and the UK are one of the most expensive places to get a degree in education. It is costly because lots of investment goes into research and equipment.”
Referring to the numbers of UAE medical students, Khan said local students made up 10 percent of the intake at his own medical college in Ras Al-Khaimah.
“The numbers of local students are increasing. However, considering the demographic dynamics, the present numbers are not bad,” said Khan, who is head of the RAK College of Dental Sciences in the UAE.
“We need good professionals, no matter which nationality they belong to,” he said.
Khan, who also runs academic institutions in Pakistan, said the two countries had a great opportunity to collaborate on medical education.
“Unfortunately, on an individual level, so many Pakistani doctors and medical managers are working in UAE. But at an institution level, there is no formal cooperation.”
The conference, a joint collaboration of Ottawa Conference and International Conference on Medical Education, was endorsed by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, and supported by the UAE University, Gulf Medical University, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University, The University of Sharjah and CLIQ (Center of Excellence in Leadership and Quality) at RAKCODS, the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, Emirates Medical Association and the Emirates Nursing Association.
Make medicine your life, expert urges young Emiratis
Make medicine your life, expert urges young Emiratis
Pakistan graft survey echoes IMF warning on weak governance, public dissatisfaction
- Most Pakistanis say they were not compelled to pay bribes, but distrust remains high in anti-corruption efforts
- PM Shahbaz Sharif calls report a recognition of his government’s efforts to fight corruption, promote transparency
ISLAMABAD: Governance weaknesses flagged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) appeared to align with findings from Pakistan’s latest corruption perception survey, analysts said on Tuesday, as Transparency International Pakistan (TI-Pakistan) reported widespread public dissatisfaction with the state’s accountability mechanisms.
TI-Pakistan’s National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2025 found that 58 percent of respondents fully or partly agreed that the IMF program and Pakistan’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list had helped stabilize the economy.
“Encouragingly, a majority of Pakistanis (66 percent) nationwide reported that they did not experience a situation where they felt compelled to offer a bribe to access any public service,” said the survey. “Sindh recorded the highest proportion of respondents paying a bribe to access public service (46 percent), followed by Punjab (39 percent), Balochistan (31 percent) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (20 percent).”
In this context, 77 percent said they were unhappy with the government’s anti-corruption performance.
However, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed satisfaction over the report in a statement, saying “a large majority of citizens said they did not face corruption during our government’s tenure” which is “recognition of our efforts to fight corruption and promote transparency.”
“It is highly encouraging that most citizens considered the government’s measures for economic recovery to be successful,” he said.
“We worked on a priority basis to establish a system grounded in merit and transparency across all sectors of government, and we are continuing to build on these efforts,” he added.
Economist and former finance ministry adviser Dr. Khaqan Najeeb said the survey highlighted the same structural weaknesses identified by the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic, published on Nov. 20 at the international lender’s request, which said Pakistan suffers from “persistent and widespread corruption vulnerabilities” rooted in a state-dominated economy, weak regulatory capacity, and inconsistent enforcement.
“Transparency International Pakistan’s National Corruption Perception Survey does suggest progress in reducing low-level, day-to-day bribery, but it does not contradict the IMF’s governance findings,” he told Arab News. “Instead, it highlights that Pakistan’s real challenge lies in deeper, systemic weaknesses in transparency, oversight and institutional accountability.”
“While public perception has improved, it does not mean the underlying governance issues identified by the IMF have been resolved,” he argued, adding that addressing those will require sustained reforms, stronger institutions and consistent enforcement.
Political analyst Mazhar Abbas said the report was going to be used by the government to bolster its economic narrative.
“Survey reports have usually been tilted in favor of the government, and this report is no different,” he told Arab News. “The government will certainly use it to support its narrative of an improved economy, as the report states that a majority of respondents partially or fully agree that the government has successfully stabilized the economy through the IMF agreement and by exiting the FATF grey list.”
Abbas added it was difficult to either challenge or endorse the findings of the report without knowing who was interviewed and who the respondents were.
“The police have consistently been at the top of Transparency International’s corruption perception reports, whereas there may be other organizations where the frequency and volume of corruption are even higher,” he continued, adding that since the police are a public-dealing organization and consistently top the corruption perception index, it suggested that most respondents are from the general public, who may either lack access to or knowledge of corrupt practices in other organizations.
Islamabad-based social-sector development consultant Muhammad Qasim Jan said the survey should be seen as a barometer of public sentiment rather than an empirical measure of corruption.
“The National Corruption Perception Survey 2025 offers a sobering snapshot of how Pakistanis view corruption and accountability,” he told Arab News. “At the same time, the absence of basic methodological detail means the results should be interpreted with caution, especially when citing national percentages or making population-wide claims.”
