UAE doctor visits Korea for training
.jpg?w=728)
Nourah Rashid Al Shamsi
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Nourah Rashid Al Shamsi, 27, is a third-year resident in Ambulatory Health Services at the Seha Emirates Hospital in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Currently she is in Korea with her family to take part in an exchange program at the Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) Health Promotion Center.
Shamsi said Korea is popular in the UAE for tourism, medical treatment and work experience. Combining her career and her interest in Korea, Shamsi decided to visit not to travel, but to learn her way around the Korean medical industry.
"My family have been very supportive for me to come for this training program and that is why my mother, sister and brother have joined me for the whole period of a month to stay in Seoul, also to enjoy the great weather and the cherry blossom season," Shamsi said in an interview with The Korea Times.
Shamsi is from Sharjah, the UAE’s third-largest emirate, and studied medicine in Abu Dhabi. At first, Shamsi's love for Korea began with watching Korean dramas and listening to K-pop, but soon her interest shifted to Korean culture and history.
"In 2006, when I was in medical school, I started watching Korean dramas. The first one I saw was Stairway to Heaven, but my favorite is Iljimae," she said. "It is the first Korean epic drama I've seen and it was nice to see how the lifestyle was different back then. There was a social class system and clothes were also totally different."
Shamsi said Korean culture is getting popular in the Arabic world, especially for the younger generation. "Arabic TV stations started to broadcast Korean dramas, starting with Jewel in the Palace. More programs offer Arabic subtitles as well."
As she slowly started to understand Korean through watching dramas and variety shows, Shamsi thought of properly learning Korean. "There are patients from my hospital going to Korea for treatment and I thought it might help my career as well," Shamsi said.
Her major is in family medicine as she wants to have a longer relationship with her patients. "Other medical departments are specialized in specific parts of the body, but a family medicine doctor can deal with a variety of diseases and see patients for a long time,” she said. “I think it can have a good influence on the patients, preventing further problems through exercise and dietary therapy.”
Now she attends SNUH five days a week, "Everything was prepared when I arrived here -- I had my schedule set and people fluent in English helped in interpretation," Shamsi said.
Though she can speak basic Korean, Shamsi cannot see patients directly due to the language barrier and accompanies a professor. She discovered a handful of interesting programs at the hospital, including a cancer survivorship program. "This is a program to support cancer patients or those who survived cancer,” she explained. “There is nothing like this in the UAE."
Shamsi plans to study Korean further for her interest in Korean culture as well as for more job experience. “So if there was a program in English or if I work on my Korean skills more I would be happy to come again for an extensive program,” she said.