Sheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences to honour bodies

Under the patronage and in the presence of His Excellency Mr Humeid Al-Quttami, UAE Minister of Health and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences, the General Secretariat of the Award organized a function to honor the media and other institutions and persons who contributed to the success of the , which was held during 19-22 December, 2006.

His Excellency Mr. Humeid Al-Qattami, the Minister of Health, has begun by welcoming everyone and commended the efforts and continuing support to the award by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum to bring it up to the highest level. He also spoke about the support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, which stems from a general strategy adopted by the United Arab Emirates under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, as well as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Prime Minister, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. He also thanked all parties and individuals who contributed and said that the award is coming to a new era through its new session that completes a decade.

Prof Dr Najeeb Al-Khaja expressed his thanks and gratitude for the great and unlimited support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry and the sponsor of the Award, to upgrade this award.

"This shows His Highness' keen interest in science and scientists, and his endeavor to motivate them so they can innovate and make new discoveries in their area of expertise and studies," he said. In this respect, he referred to the instructions of His Highness for the development of a new award.

It will be called the Hamdan Award for Distinction in Medical Services and will be awarded for medical practitioners and scientists in the Arab world. It will be constituted from the Fifth Session in 2007-2008. His Highness has also instructed the allocation of additional funds to support the genetic activities undertaken by the Center for Arab Genomic Studies in addition to allocating new funds to support the research relating to the award.

Prof Dr Najeeb Al-Khaja commented on the efforts exerted by His Excellency Humeid Al-Quttami, UAE Minister of Health and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the award in order to develop the award and its work mechanisms. He expressed his thanks to the various committees and task groups, and the efforts undertaken by them for the success of the Medical Conference in its fourth session.

He said that the conference demanded high efforts, cooperation and constant coordination between various authorities for its successful conclusion. He also thanked the media, which contributed significantly in transmitting and covering all aspects and activities of the award, pointing out that these efforts contributed to the success of the Fourth Session of the Award and the Fourth Dubai International Conference of Medical Sciences as well.

Prof Dr Al-Khaja called on everyone to make more efforts for future sessions, especially now that the award is growing year by year and has become one of the world's major awards, enjoying broad interest among scientists and researchers from all over the world.

At the end of the ceremony, His Excellency Humaid Al-Quttami, Mr Mirza Al-Sayegh and Prof Dr Najeeb Al-Khaja distributed certificates of appreciation and souvenirs to the honored individuals. The list of the awardees included : From the Media : Al Bayan Newspapers, Al Ittihad Newspapers, Al Khaleej Newspapers, Al Emarat Al Youm Newspapers, Gulf News Newspapers, Gulf Today Newspapers, Khaleej Times Newspapers, Emirates Today Newspapers, Evening Post Newspapers, Dubai TV, Dubai Satellite Channel, Sama Dubai TV, Abu Dhabi TV, Ajman TV, Sharjah TV, Nour Dubai Radio and Etisal Event Management and public relations. This is in addition to a large number of governmental companies and a group of physicians and researchers.