An Emirati neurosurgeon explains why he flew to Dubai to perform surgery during the conflict — and what the UAE’s resilience means to him By Dr. Abdul Salam Al Belushi – MD, FAANS, FACS, FCNS | Johns Hopkins trained Emirati Neurosurgeon | CMO Tricelx global leader in stem cell therapy | Recipient, Ajman Medal of Honor
It is a question I have been asked by colleagues, journalists, and friends since I announced my decision: why are you going?
My answer is simple enough that it surprises people. My patients are there. And when your patients are waiting for surgery and you are a surgeon — you go. 
I am Dr. Abdul Salam Al Belushi. I was born in Dubai. I have been in the United States for almost thirty years, trained at the Cleveland Clinic, University of Louisville and Johns Hopkins University, and built a career that has made me proud of both my adopted country and my homeland. I am the first and only Emirati to hold United States board certification in neurological surgery. I have been honored with the Ajman Medal of Honor, awarded by H.H. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Ruler of Ajman.
When the conflict with Iran escalated and the world began to leave the UAE, I made a different calculation. Not because I was unaware of the risk — I am a surgeon; risk assessment is part of every decision I make. But because my assessment of the UAE, its leadership, and the infrastructure its government has built led me to a different conclusion than the one driving most departures.
The UAE is still functioning. Its hospitals are open. Its air defenses are performing. The men and women who keep this country running — the nurses, the hospital administrators, the anaesthesiologists, the medical support staff — they are still at their posts. The least I could do was join them.
“The UAE did not build what it has built only to abandon it when it matters most. Neither will I.”
There is something that I want every resident of the UAE to understand, because it matters regardless of which passport you carry. The fact that a neurosurgeon can fly from the United States to UAE during an active conflict and perform complex surgery is not accidental. It is the result of decades of deliberate investment by the UAE’s leadership — in air defense, in medical infrastructure, in governance, in the kind of stability that allows critical services to continue even when the headlines are alarming.
I have performed surgery in this country before. I performed the first robotic spine surgery in the Middle East and Africa here, in Abu Dhabi, in 2022. The operating rooms were world-class then. They are world-class now. That does not happen by chance. It happens because the people at the top of this country have prioritized it.
My return is, in its simplest form, an act of professional duty. But it is also something more. It is an Emirati’s statement, made with his presence rather than his words, that he believes in the country that made him. That he trusts the people who lead it. That when the question is whether to stay or go, the answer, for him, is the same as it has always been for the UAE itself when facing adversity.
We stay. We work. We take care of each other.
To every resident of the UAE reading this — of every nationality, every background, every faith — I want you to know: the country you live in has earned what it is asking of you right now. Stay calm. The infrastructure is holding. The hospitals are open. The people who are supposed to show up, are showing up.
I am one of them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Abdul Salam Al Belushi (Dr. Abdul Baker), MD, FAANS, FACS, FCNS, is a Johns Hopkins-trained neurosurgeon born in Dubai, UAE, and the first and only Emirati to hold US board certification in neurological surgery. He is a recipient of the Ajman Medal of Honor, awarded by H.H. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Ruler of Ajman. He practices in Plano and Sherman, Texas, and consults in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
