In the history of Dubai certain people cannot be forgotten. Among those is a man who had lived in Dubai since the 1940s; A kind man, Doctor Muhammad Yasin who had come to the emirate in 1943.

Having graduated at Amritsar College in the Punjab, India in 1941, he practiced medicine there for two years and then decided to return home and seek a life-promoting job. Fortunately,  he read an ad in a magazine requesting a Muslim physician in the Trucial States of the Arabian Gulf at a salary of 150 Indian rupees, together with allowances amounting to another 150,  thus totaling 300 rupees. This was an attractive pay, and a dream-like offer for any junior doctor at that time. He submitted an application hoping to obtain the job, and a few months later, he was selected.

 

Dr. Muhammad Yasin arrived in Dubai in 1943. At that time the general health condition of the people of Dubai was reasonable and there were no pressing or evident medical problems. However, a few months after his arrival, smallpox hit the emirate, and both doctors and citizens acted concertedly to treat the patients on the one hand, and to immunize residents, on the other.

 

Before Dr. Yasin's arrival, medical services were almost primitive and confined to a store for the distribution of drugs to patients in the absence of doctors. Arriving in Dubai, Dr. Yasin took over management of the said store which received its supplies from Bombay stores. A year after his arrival in Dubai, an assistant was appointed, the late Hussein Ali Khan, and a year later another assistant arrived, the late Hassan Ahly.

 

Together, the three men formed the team of medical services. Having been taught by Dr. Yasin how to dress wounds, give injections, the two assistants gave invaluable help in every respect.

 

At that time, Dr. Yasin's services were heavily concentrated in the emirate of Dubai. However, he managed to offer services to other emirates when necessary, especially as he was the only doctor available in all the seven emirates. In this connection, it has to be stated that Dr. Yasinoffered his services to the people of Ras AI-Khaimah in the second year of his career in Dubai, following the outbreak of malaria.

 

In those days, Dr. Yasin used to perform a limited number of minor surgeries, due to the lack of the necessary equipments and tools. However, he was unable to help in serious cases, and these had to be removed to Bahrain or India depending on the financial capabilities of families. Otherwise, patients had to wait for their fate.

 

In 1954, The British Political Agency sent Dr. Yasin's files to the Department of Health in Lahore upon his own request. The said Department agreed to register him with King Edward University (the oldest Faculty of Medicine in Pakistan). His request came as a result of his will to. develop his own skills and capabilities in the field of medicine.

 

Having completed his study in 1957, he tried to practise medicine in an external clinic in Pakistan. However,  nostalgia for Dubai made him return in 1959. After a short while, he was shifted to the Dubai Clinic located in Bur Dubai, and was assigned the duty of offering medical services to the people of the area. He maintained this position until 1971 when he was appointed Director of Medical Services at Dubai Airport where he spent the remaining years of his service extending until1986, the year of his retirement.

 

Dr. Yasin's contributions did not go unnoticed. In 1966 he was honored by the Queen's representative in the Gulf by making him Member of the British Empire. He was also honored by the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services in 2000.

 

At a time when poverty had prevailed in the Trucial States, and when medicine was primitive and lacking the necessary equipment, Dr. Yasin was the sole doctor in the seven emirates. He tried hard to alleviate patients' pains, and perform minor surgeries armed with his knowledge and using whatever simple tools and equipments that were available.

 

For these considerations, Dr. Muhammad Yasin deserves the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid AlMaktoum Award for Medical Sciences (category of outstanding figures in the field of medicine in the United Arab Emirates: 2005-2006 session).