Back to the Beginning

IN BAHRAIN IN 1996, RENOWNED PLASTIC SURGEON, PROFESSOR TARIQ SAEED FOUNDED A CLINIC WHICH GREW TO BECOME A HOSPITAL DEVOTED TO PLASTIC SURGERY AND ALLIED SPECIALTIES. HE TRAINED IN IRELAND, THE UK AND THE USA AND HOLDS FELLOWSHIPS IN SURGERY FROM THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND AND EDINBURGH. WE SPOKE TO HIM ABOUT HIS CAREER, HIS VARIED EXPERIENCES AND HIS LIFE OUTSIDE WORK…

rofessor Tariq Saeed was born and grew up in Bahrain, as one of eight children – “like a big Irish family”, he says, educated initially by Italian nuns at the Sacred Heart School. “ ey instilled in me discipline and a love of art,” he remembers. “First woodcarving, then later drawing and painting.” From the Sacred Heart School, he progressed to the local government school, where he did well academically.

“My father, Mohamed Saeed, was a college graduate. He studied literature, wrote poetry and published a number of books,” explains Professor Saeed, “but he was a manager by profession. When I was around ve or six, he was o ered a job in Saudi Arabia working with an oil company. It was a di cult decision for him to make, leaving Bahrain and his family of nine, at a time when the only means of travel was by boat. He knew, however, that it would allow him to provide better for his family, and so for most of our lives my father lived abroad. My mother Sakina was a very wise, gentle lady and an excellent mother. She made sure we were all loved, supported and educated.”

Professor Saeed’s father inspired the young Tariq to pursue medicine as a career. Bahrain did not have a medical school at the time, so in order to achieve this, he too had to leave home. “Despite not having any medical background, my father always held the profession in the highest regard,” Professor Saeed explains. “He would always say that as a doctor, you could go anywhere in the world, and be able to help and provide care for others, while leading a comfortable life. My father passed away in 2016 at the age of 89. Talking to him in his later years, it was clear that had he got the opportunity, he would have become a doctor himself.”

“If I’m being honest, at that time my love and passion was for art. I would have loved to pursue a career as an artist, but I was drawn to the idea of learning how to be able to care for people in their time of need. So when I nished school, and the opportunity arose to study medicine, I jumped at the chance. I le home to study at Basra University in Iraq.

“Iraq was a prosperous country in the 1970s, bustling with life. Basra University was one of the best universities in the Arab world and the standard of education we received there was excellent. Despite this, the rst couple of years were a struggle. I was fascinated by what I was learning through my studies, but leaving home for the rst time and being away from my mother and siblings was immensely di cult. e only contact I had with home was through letters, which took three or four weeks to arrive. Not only was I homesick, but I also struggled with the politics of Iraq, which impacted on everyone’s lives, including its students’. ankfully, as the years went by, I was able to overcome my homesickness, and navigate the politics by focusing on my studies.

“ e de ning moment for me came in my third year of medical school,”

“We call it a compact hospital. We have twelve full-time doctors between Plastic Surgeons, dermatologists and anaesthetists.”

Opening ceremony of Dr Tariq Hospital. Dr Tariq Hospital Professor Tariq Saeed

Professor Saeed says. “I was fortunate to have met an inspiring professor, Alaa Bashir. Not only was he a magni cent teacher, from whom I gained my rst insight into the principles of wound healing, he was also an innovative and highly respected Plastic Surgeon. He would later go on to establish a hospital dedicated to treating wounded soldiers and victims of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, developing new surgical techniques and inventing several pieces of surgical equipment in the process.

“To my amazement, I discovered that he was also an accomplished artist! I attended an exhibition of his work and I was completely blown away. Suddenly, I could see a path forward – artist, doctor, Plastic Surgeon. I had found my way. I went to observe one of his operations and saw him drawing out the steps of the surgery on a board in the operating theatre; I knew then that I had found the specialty that combined my love of art and medicine. I subscribed to the British Journal of Plastic Surgery as a third-year medical student. Although I couldn’t understand any of what was in it, having the copies on my bookshelves and seeing Professor Bashir’s work being published inspired me to push on and work even harder. I was excited about my future career.”

Professor Saeed graduated in 1977, then returned home to Bahrain and worked in the government hospital for a year and a half. “At that time, the Ministry of Health in Bahrain sent young doctors abroad to specialise, mainly to Ireland and the UK. I told them I wanted to be a Plastic Surgeon,” recalls Professor Saeed, “and I remember being told: ‘No, we have no need for Plastic Surgery in Bahrain. Our people are beautiful enough as they are!’ at was how the specialty was perceived at that stage. To make matters worse, the Minister for Health then met with all the young doctors and told us that for nancial reasons the government was no longer sending us abroad on scholarships. e two options were to train locally as a general surgeon or as a physician. ere was to be no more sub-specialisation.”

Professor Saeed was heartbroken at having his dream snatched away from him. “I immediately wrote to RCSI saying that I wanted to come and do my fellowship in Ireland,” he says. “ ankfully, I was accepted and I decided to go. I applied for a year of unpaid leave from my job at the government hospital, but my application was rejected. I was so clear in my mind, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do, that I resigned and le for Ireland.” e 27-year-old Tariq arrived in Dublin on New Year’s Day of January 1979 with a thousand punts to his name. “I couldn’t believe the amount of snow,” he remembers. “I had never seen snow in my life. ere were no taxis at the airport, just a bus that dropped me o at Busáras. I was there with a light jacket, and a large suitcase full of books. I had the address of another Bahraini doctor, Isa Sammak, who lived on Harcourt Street, so I walked all the way there dragging my suitcase alongin the snow. I eventually arrived, with frozen hands and feet, only to discover that Isa had travelled to London for Christmas and New Year! No one had mobile phones then, so I had no way of contacting him. ere was a small hotel next door that managed to spare their cold attic for me for a couple of days, as their rooms were all occupied. I stayed there until Isa’s return.”

Professor Saeed commenced his primary fellowship course in Dublin, but soon found himself running low on funds. “I thought I would be able to work as a surgeon in Dublin and support myself through my studies,” he says,

Professor Saeed, explaining the technique of his art work to the then Prime Minister of Bahrain, HRH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Alkhalifa.

“but many accomplished international doctors with PhDs and masters degrees couldn’t get jobs at that time. ere was nothing for a young surgeon like myself with only a year’s experience, and I couldn’t go back to Bahrain because I had burned my bridges there. As WB Yeats wrote: ‘I was young and foolish’. As if by fate, the Kuwaiti Minister for Health, Dr Abdul Rahman Al Awadhi, came to meet with the Kuwaiti students and doctors at RCSI. I was fortunate to be introduced to him, and I mentioned the predicament I was in. In a matter of weeks, I ew to Kuwait to start a new job, while taking the same fellowship courses I was taking in Ireland. Dr Al Awadhi had arranged for me to work and study in Kuwait, having only spent six months in Ireland at the time.”

Professor Saeed spent three years working in Kuwait, a er completing his primary fellowship. He received a call from Dr Hagop Yacoubian and Dr Abdul Wahab Mohamed from the Surgical Department at Salmaniya Medical Centre, the government hospital in Bahrain. ey were implementing a new ten-year plan for the hospital, and were now looking for doctors to specialise in elds such as Cardio-thoracics, Orthopaedics, and Plastic Surgery.

“ ey o ered to send me back to Ireland on a scholarship to work towards my FRCS, and specialise in Plastic Surgery,” explains Professor Saeed. “Myself and a number of my fellow residents, surgeons Salman Al Khalifa, Habib Tareif, Ali Ja ar, Mohamed Durazi, Mohamed Sameai, and physicians A Hadi Khalil and Saeed Al Sa ar, went to Dublin in 1982 to complete our training. I spent ve wonderful years in Ireland, where I had the opportunity to meet and work with many gi ed surgeons, some of whom I am still in contact with to this day. My rst position was a clinical attachment at Dr Steevens’ Hospital, the main hospital for Burns and Plastic Surgery, under Mr Brendan Prendiville. Soon that became a paid, full-time job a er a gruelling interview process! I also worked with Mr G Edwards, Mr Matt McHugh and Mr Denis Lawlor RCSI Fellow (1973). e position involved working between Dr Steevens’ Hospital, St Vincent’s University Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

“At Dr Steevens’, we were still treating patients from the 1981 Stardust Fire disaster and the hospital would continue to do so for many years to come. At St Vincent’s Hospital, my experience in hand and microsurgery developed under the guidance of Professor Seamus Ó Riain, a real gentleman, with whom I wrote several papers. “It was while working in Dublin that I was able to pass the FRCS exams in both the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and in Edinburgh.”

Professor Saeed le Dublin for Cork in 1985 to take up a position as a Registrar in Plastic Surgery under Mr Cal Condon and Mr T P O’Connor, RCSI Fellow (1972) at Cork Regional Hospital, now Cork University Hospital (CUH).

“Mr Condon was a very dynamic and exacting surgeon who expected only the highest of standards from his registrars. If he ever felt we had

underperformed, we’d be sure to hear about it!” jokes Professor Saeed. “I still have the letter he would dictate with great ourish to his secretary Mary-Ellen, letters that bring back many fond memories,” remembers Professor Saeed. “I worked and trained with a great team including Mr Tom O’Reilly, RCSI Fellow (1983), my fellow registrar, and Mr Jack McCann, Senior Registrar in the famous eatre 9 in the Accident and Emergency Department. What I remember most is the kindness I experienced from all those around me. I ArabiaPlast Conference, 2006. recall Mr Condon inviting me for Christmas dinner with his family at their home, which was a wonderful and heart-warming experience. I also remember when my mother fell ill when she came to visit, and was admitted to CUH for treatment. e sta at CUH looked a er her with the utmost care and attention. I appreciate that to this day.” When Mr O’Connor took temporary leave from work, Professor Saeed was interviewed for the post of Locum Consultant and was excited to be o ered the opportunity. “With my work in Ireland and support from Bahrain, I had the backing from both sides to help complete my training. I was able to successfully achieve my Higher Training Fellowship in Plastic Surgery from RCSI, in the Honouring Professor Michael Earley. days before the FRCSPlast came into existence,” says Professor Saeed. “I had many great colleagues, friends, mentors and teachers. Brilliant people who inspired me and gave me a very solid base on which to develop my career. “Ireland and Bahrain have a lot in common,” he says. “Families are big and the people are warm and friendly. You can make friends anywhere you go. I rst met my wife, June Molloy, who is from Dublin, at a Plastic Surgery conference in London, and six months later I met her again at St Vincent’s University Hospital and that’s how it all started. We got married in January 1987.” From Ireland, the newlyweds moved to Slough in the UK, where Professor Saeed took up a fellowship position with Consultant Plastic Surgeon Mr Magdy N Saad, co-author of the acclaimed Barron and Saad Operative Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery books (1980). “We were based at the Wexham Park and Nu eld Hospitals,” says Professor Saeed. “ is was my introduction to the world of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Mr Saad was the epitome of kindness and a superb mentor; I learned so much under his tutelage.” A er completing his fellowship in the UK, the couple moved to Bahrain. “We discussed the move a lot,” says Professor Saeed, “and although June hadn’t visited Bahrain at that time, she had done her research, read a lot about the Bahraini culture, and had met members of my family as well as Bahraini colleagues in Ireland. She had an idea of what to expect when she arrived, which made things easier for both of us.” In early 1987, Professor Saeed was appointed as the rst Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon in Bahrain at Salmaniya Medical Centre. His colleague, Dr Aziz Hamza, joined the department therea er, on completion of his training in Egypt. “We established the department,” explains Professor Saeed. “We hired and trained the sta , and bought the equipment and instruments needed to establish a very high standard plastic surgery unit. During my training I had developed a deep interest in skin culture for burns. Together with my colleagues, I managed to successfully culture skin cells in the laboratory at the Arabian Gulf University Medical School. ese cultured epithelial gra s were used to successfully treat a number of burns patients at our hospital. is was published in the journal Burns in 1989. is established Bahrain as one of the few countries in the world at the forefront of skin culture. Around the same time, myself and my orthopaedic colleagues carried out the rst microsurgical replantation of a forearm, alongside multiple digit replantations. ose early days were exciting and full of “ rsts” for Bahrain.” In 1989, Professor Saeed had a chance meeting with Dr D Ralph Millard Jr,

“Being a Fellow of the D Ralph Millard Society has meant a lot to me. Over the years I have had the privilege of meeting many iconic Plastic Surgeons.”

a giant in the eld and one of the founders of modern reconstructive plastic surgery. He was nominated as one of the ‘10 Plastic Surgeons of the Millennium’ by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in 2000. Dr Millard was visiting the Ministry of Health in Bahrain at the time. is meeting led to Professor Saeed being invited to take up a nal fellowship opportunity at the University of Miami later that year. He remembers the trip as eye-opening.

“We arrived in Miami ve days before Hurricane Hugo was due to hit Florida and had a crash course in how to prepare,” he recalls. “It changed its course and made landfall in South Carolina. On the same trip, we attended the ASPS Conference in San Francisco which took place just two weeks a er the Bay Area was hit by a 6.9 earthquake. Many delegates did not attend but when Dr Millard aka ‘ e Boss’ decided he was going, the ‘Millard Fellows’ had to follow. It was an amazing experience, but with a ershocks still being felt on a daily basis, we were glad to get back to Miami. Being a Fellow of the D Ralph Millard Society has meant a lot to me. Over the years I have had the privilege of meeting many iconic Plastic Surgeons, some of whom we have had the honour of hosting here in Bahrain.” Ever since that rst trip to San Francisco, Professor Saeed has made the e ort to attend an ASPS or ASAPS meeting once every two years.

“Our part of the world has seen many upheavals. A er Operation Desert Storm at the beginning of 1991, the health services in Kuwait were seriously depleted and a number of countries sent in medical teams to aid the Kuwaiti healthcare system. I headed a medical team travelling from Bahrain in March 1991, where we treated the casualties of the war including major trauma and severe burns patients. It was a frightening yet surreal experience, operating without electricity for most of the day, with very little communication with June and my family at home. e beautiful Kuwait I knew from my time there was destroyed.

“I continued with my work at Salmaniya Medical Centre, and in 1996, I took the di cult decision to leave the government service to enter private practice. I had a dream and an opportunity, and both were too exciting to ignore,” he says. “I had begun private practice in 1991 on a part-time basis in a joint clinic with my dear colleague, Dr Mohamed Al Durazi. No one believed it was feasible at the time, but this rst grew into a standalone clinic, then a medical centre and now a hospital devoted to Plastic Surgery and allied specialties.

“It is a compact hospital that is Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited. We have twelve full-time doctors including plastic surgeons, dermatologists and anaesthetists. We also have visiting doctors with particular specialisation interests who come a few times a year to see patients. We have a capacity of 19 beds, all in private en suite rooms, three operating theatres, and the largest laser centre in the region, with 55 laser machines. Our aim is to o er holistic care to patients who need it, with the aim of restoring form or function, as well as rejuvenating and delaying the e ects of ageing.”

Professor Saeed’s wife, June Molloy, has an MBA and is her husband’s management partner at the hospital. “June has played a vital part in establishing our practice and our hospital,” says Professor Saeed. “We have a good partnership, I take care of the medical side, while she takes care of management.

“Along the way, we have organised three major international Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Conferences in Bahrain under the GulfPlast and ArabiaPlast series. ese were initiated in Bahrain in 1997, followed by another in 2006 and the most recent conference in 2017. We have been able to bring leading Plastic Surgeons from around the world to share their experience and knowledge with our local and regional Plastic Surgeons. Professors Ivo Pitanguy from Brazil, Fuad Nahai, Ian Jackson and Peter Neligan from the USA, Danial Marchac from France, and Giovanni Botti from Italy to mention a few. RCSI, in Dublin and in Bahrain, has supported each of these events and has been vital to their success. Irish Plastic Surgeons Professor Michael Early, Professor Sean Carroll and Mr Tom O’Reilly, among others have attended, presented papers and given workshops at our conferences.”

Following in their father’s footsteps, the couple’s three children are all doctors, and all studied medicine at RCSI in Dublin. “We didn’t push them into it, I promise!” laughs Professor Saeed. e family divides their time between Bahrain and Dublin and the younger Saeeds are very close to their Irish grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends.

“During their RCSI college years, this was incredibly important. e support they received from family during di cult times in their student careers was invaluable,” says Professor Saeed. “June and I tried to ensure we were in Ireland to support them through their exams as o en as possible. ey are all currently working in the UK. Nina (31) and Ayman (29) are both in the Plastic Surgery national training scheme and our youngest daughter Dana (27) is a Lifestyle Medicine Physician.

“I would like to reduce my clinical work and have more time for art, reading and writing. I have kept up my painting over the years, have won a few awards and have had four solo art exhibitions. I’ve exhibited my work in Cork, London, Paris, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Recently, I was going through Arabic diaries I have kept since my schooldays, through college and my years in Ireland. ere is some poetry, philosophy and records of experiences, both physical and emotional, that I went through. Perhaps I will put them together in a small book. at is my current project.

“My links with RCSI span the entire length of my surgical career. e institution is incredibly important to me and my family. My appointment as Professor at the College is a great honour and privilege for me. I have been very fortunate to reach the stage I am at and achieve many of my lifelong ambitions. None of this would have been possible without the guidance of my parents, the love and support of my family, colleagues and friends over the years.” ■

Caption Members of the D Ralph Millard Society at the White House.