Dubai: Over 37 students of the class of 2023 at the Mohammad Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRY) participated in a formal white coat ceremony on Tuesday, marking their initiation into the six-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme.
The white coat ceremony is a tradition held for the second year at MBRU where first-year medical students receive their white coats and recite the modern Hippocratic Oath to affirm their commitment to a professional career in medicine. Professor Alwai Al Shaikh Ali, dean of the College of Medicine, administered the collective oath at the ceremony.
With the second cohort, now MBRU has over 90 students that includes 54 who were enrolled in 2016 belonging to to the class of 2022. Diversity is the hallmark of MBRU with students belonging to at least 13 different nationalities with UAE nationals making up 40 per cent of the student population.
Addressing the students, Dr Ali said: “There is no better occasion to begin the transition to professional life than the very first day of medical school. It is so important to think and act like a professional and to affirm commitment to the profession of medicine from this very early stage of our students’ careers.”
Dr Amer Ahmad Sharif, vice-chancellor of MBRU, congratulated the new batch of students on their dedication and hard work and assured the parents that their wards were in safe hands.
Dr Laila Al Suwaidi, assistant professor of Molecular Haematology and assistant dean of happiness and well-being at the College of Medicine, said: “This is a first-of-its-kind designation and I intend to promote the health and well-being of all our students, create new opportunities of growth and development and identify innovative programmes of student engagement.”
One such programme that is offered every summer is a four-week internship at the Queen’s University Belfast campus for students who clear first year at MBRU. Queens University is the international academic partner of MBRU.
Students at the ceremony shared their emotional feelings. Emirati Hamdah Meer told Gulf News: “I am very excited. I always wanted to be a doctor and help people and now my dream is being fulfilled.”
Italian Umberto Battistin, another first-year student, said: “I found the ceremony to be a truly symbolic representation of the transition that a student undergoes wearing the white coat.”
Syrian national Sarah Al Kabbani said: “I think it is a lot of responsibility to be a doctor. This will require a long period of studying, for six years, but it will be worth all the hard work.”
