Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah
Minister of Health
In office
14 February 2009 – 21 April 2014
Prime Minister King Abdullah
Preceded by Hamad Al Manie
Succeeded by Adel Fakeih
Personal details
Born (1954-11-11) 11 November 1954
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Alma mater King Saud University
King Khalid University
Dalhousie University
University of Alberta
Religion Islam

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah (born 11 November 1954) is a Saudi surgeon and former minister of health.

Early life and education

Al Rabiah was born in Riyadh on 11 November 1954.[1][2] He obtained bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degrees from King Saud University in 1979.[1] He completed his internship at King Khalid University in 1980.[3] Then he received an MA in pediatric surgery from the University of Alberta in 1985.[4] He completed his residency in general and pediatric surgery at Dalhousie University in 1987.[1][4]

Career

Al Rabiah worked as an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at King Saud University. He was also pediatric surgery consultant at King Khaled University, King Khaled National Guard Hospital and King Fahd Specialist Hospital. He served as the executive manager of King Abdulaziz Medical Center.[5]

Al Rabiah participated as a surgeon in the operation on the Sudanese conjoined twins on 8 February 1992 at King Faisal Specialist Hospital.[6] In addition, he carried out numerous operations separating conjoined twins throughout the Arab World.[7][8][9] Al Rabiah continues to take part in the operations to separate conjoined twins.[10] He has realized a total of 30 such operations of which the last one was on 15 September 2012.[11]

He served as an executive director general of health affairs at the National Guard from July 2003 to February 2009.[2] He was also the president of King Saud University for Health Sciences from May 2005 to February 2009. Al Rabiah was appointed minister of health on 14 February 2009 in a major cabinet reshuffle, replacing Hamad Al Manie who had been in office since May 2003.[8][12][13][14] His and others' appointments were considered by Saudi journalist Khaled Almaeena to be a "more progressive move".[12]

In line with these views, in April 2012 Al Rabiah assigned a woman, Muneera bint Hamdan Al Osaimi, as an assistant undersecretary in the medical services affairs department at the Ministry of Health.[15] She is the first woman appointed to this post at the ministry in Saudi Arabia.[15]

On 21 April 2014, Al Rabiah was removed from his post for unspecified reasons.[16][17] Adel Fakeih replaced him in the post.[16]

Other positions

Al Rabiah has been involved in the establishment of pediatric surgery units in several universities in Saudi Arabia, including King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.[2] He has been the chairman of the Riyadh Pediatric Surgery Club since 2006. He also serves as an instructor in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), beginning in 1986.[2]

Recognition

Al Rabiah was named as the world's 45th most influential Arab in 2010 by Arabian Business.[18] On 10 December 2012, he was awarded Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences due to his outstanding achievements in the Arab world.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Biographies of Ministers". Saudi Embassy Washington DC. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "About the Minister". Ministry of Health. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah". MEED. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Abdullah Al Rabeeah". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Nafie, Reem (16–22 October 2003). "Separate lives". Al Ahram Weekly. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "Conjoined twins". KSA. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Abu Nasir, Donna (14 February 2009). "Saudi King Abdullah Appoints First Ever Woman Deputy Minister, Shakes Up Government". Huffington Post. AP. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  8. 1 2 Christopher Boucek (June 2009), "Saudi Arabia's king changes the guard" (PDF), Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst (Carnegie Endowment), archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2010, retrieved 5 May 2012
  9. ↑ Henderson, Simon (18 February 2009). "Saudi Arabia Changes Course, Slowly". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "Baha conjoined twins' surgery tomorrow". Arab News. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Moulana, S.H. (15 September 2012). "Saudi King greets the medical team that successfully separated conjoined twins Rana and Reem". Asian Tribune (Riyadh). Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Saudi King appoints first woman to council". CNN. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  13. ↑ "Five Royal Decrees Issued in Riyadh". Ain Al Yaqeen. 2 May 2003. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "The Council of Ministers". Saudia Online. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Saudi health ministry reshuffle sees the first appointment of women assistant undersecretary". Al Arabiya. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  16. 1 2 "Saudi Arabia: Health Official Fired". The New York Times. Reuters. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Mustapha Ajbaili (21 April 2014). "Saudi Health Minister ‘relieved of his post’". Al Arabiya. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  18. ↑ "45 Dr Abdullah Al Rabiah". Arabian Business. 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  19. ↑ "Saudi health minister wins Medical Personality award". IINA. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
Political offices
Preceded by
Hamad Al Manie		 Health Minister of Saudi Arabia
2009 – 2014 		Succeeded by
Adel Fakeih
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