Canada is a country with breathtaking sights and attractions, beautiful lakes, rivers, mountains, lush green forests and clean cities. It has been long since I visited Canada. I first visited the country way back in 1976 to attend the summer Olympics. As a 20-year-old, it was the time when I came to know about the Canadian motto: From sea to sea. It meant to represent the fact that Canada stretches the entire width of the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
About a month ago, I received an invitation to attend a Saudi graduation ceremony and job fair — organized by the Saudi Cultural Mission — in Ottawa. The first question that came to my mind was: Why January? As far as I know, Canada is colder than my home freezer during the winters.
I started my preparation for the trip by applying for a visa at the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh. Two days after submission of my documents, I got back my passport with the visa stamped on it. I would like to thank the Canadian ambassador and his staff for their cooperation. After getting visa, I just posted my travel plan on some social media platforms and was so surprised by invitations from people living in Canada whom I had never met. Most of them were Arab News readers who had never been to the Kingdom but followed my articles. I was pleasantly surprised and honored to be contacted by the President and CEO of Physicians Canada, Dr. Sam Sussman and Dr. Basil Al-Saigh from Regina Physicians group and many others who invited me to their homes. The warm Canadian hearts made me forget about Canada’s cold winter.
After communicating with my Canadian online friends, I began to realize the amount of the cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Canada in the field of medicine. As a matter of fact and as far as I know, Saudi Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah has graduated from Canada. He received his MS in pediatric surgery from the University of Alberta and completed his residency in general and pediatric surgery at Dalhousie University. Six Saudi doctors initiated the first Saudi Board of Emergency Medicine. Four of them are graduates from Canadian institutes. One of them is my cousin and closest friend, Dr. Mubarak.
Saudi Arabia and Canada share many interests. Relations between the two countries have been enhanced over the years in a unique way. It was education and medical services that played important role in cementing the ties. During the 1970s, only few Saudi students – mostly studying medicine – started to attend schools in Canada. The number of Saudis increased and in 1978 the Saudi government saw the need to establish an office to take care of Saudi students and their families. That office is now known as the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau (SACB) and currently headed by Dr. Ali Albishr with a dedicated staff.
Since the initiation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program around nine years ago, Canada has become a favorite among Saudis seeking higher education in the field of medicine. This week around 1,000 Saudis will graduate from different varsities of Canada in different fields. The ceremony and the job fair will take place at Ottawa Convention Center on Jan. 24-26. The guests of honor will be Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khalid Al-Anqari and Saudi Ambassador to Canada Nayef Al-Sudairi and many other Saudi and Canadian dignitaries will attend the ceremony.
Saudi Arabia and Canada have similar health care systems. Both countries have free medical care and medical services that covers all citizens. The free health care system is considered appropriate even though some times the waiting period is considered a setback for this kind of health care system. But, most important, Saudi Arabia can benefit from the Canadian experience in regard to implementing the care to a very large area. Canada, as we know, is the second largest country in the world covering an area of around 4 million square miles. And the Canadian health care system was initiated not in big cities such as Montreal, but it was initiated in Saskatchewan Territories. So, in order to cover all Saudi cities and smaller towns, the Saudi Ministry of Health can build big medical centers with all the needed facilities in major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and at the same time build smaller facilities in smaller towns across the Kingdom. It would be a nice idea if physicians from the main medical centers made scheduled visits to the smaller facilities to perform any needed check-ups and surgeries. This way, patients from far-flung areas would not have to travel to major medical centers.
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