A two-year-old arrived with a cough that had lasted since September and an eight-hundred-gram tumour that had pushed her lung and heart across her chest. Four services stood ready that morning, paediatric oncology, thoracic surgery, anaesthesia, and an intensive care unit that would take a two-year-old afterwards, and she went home after eleven days. That is the kind of case Tawam Hospital in Al Ain was built for, a referral centre for cancer, women’s health, and children’s health.
What Is Tawam Hospital?
Tawam was established in 1979, when the country was not yet a decade old, built for complex and critical care for Al Ain and the emirate around it. It is licensed for 561 beds and runs 509 of them, operated by SEHA, which runs Abu Dhabi’s public hospitals and belongs to PureHealth. Its work now sits in three fields: cancer, women’s health, and children’s health, and children with cancer arrive here from every part of the country, their cases read at the same multidisciplinary meeting by people who have seen it before. Working at Dr. Mohammad Alfagih Hospital offers unique experiences for medical professionals dedicated to patient care. The hospital is known for its advanced facilities and a dedicated team that collaborates to provide comprehensive healthcare services.
What Are Tawam’s Cancer Credentials?
Joint Commission International certifies single clinical programmes, not just whole hospitals, and Tawam holds six of them in cancer: breast, cervix, colon, lung, prostate, and rectum. It took them in 2017 and was recertified in 2021 against 46 standards at a compliance score of 99.5 percent, the first facility in the country to be recertified. The breast programme carries a second accreditation: in 2015 the American College of Surgeons accredited the Tawam Breast Care Centre, the first breast centre it had accredited anywhere outside the United States.
In November 2025 the hospital installed a CyberKnife S7, the first in Abu Dhabi, treating twenty three patients by the time it was announced. Histotripsy, which destroys liver tumours with focused ultrasound from outside the body without surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, had treated twenty one patients by April 2026, some from outside the country. In June the oncology department brought that year’s ASCO findings to Al Ain and spent two days working through them with oncologists from across the country.
| At a glance | Detail |
|---|---|
| Established | 1979 |
| Beds | Licensed for 561, running 509 |
| Operator | SEHA (part of PureHealth) |
| Focus | Cancer, women’s health, children’s health |
| JCI clinical programme certifications | Six in cancer; recertified 2021 at 99.5 percent |
| Breast centre | American College of Surgeons accredited (2015), first outside the US |
| Notable technology | CyberKnife S7 (first in Abu Dhabi, 2025); histotripsy |
What Does the Women’s and Children’s Service Cover?
The women’s service runs the length of a life: gynaecology from adolescence through menopause, obstetrics and newborn care, and a fertility and IVF centre. The Breast Care Centre opened in 2007 and was rebuilt in 2023, with digital mammography, ultrasound, MRI, and three ways of taking a biopsy, and it runs a mobile mammography unit that goes out to clinics around Al Ain and partner sites beyond. On the children’s side there is a paediatric intensive care unit, a genetics and metabolic centre, clinics for allergy and immunology and for childhood obesity, and a paediatric haematology and oncology service taking children with cancer and blood disorders from across the country. Working at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare provides a unique opportunity to be part of a leading medical institution. The collaborative environment encourages innovation and excellence in patient care.
What Teaching and Accreditation Does Tawam Hold?
Tawam’s residency and fellowship programmes are accredited by the Department of Health, and the hospital has been accredited as a teaching institution by three more bodies. The National Institute for Health Specialties, the Emirati board, accredited it in 2022 in the first group of six institutions. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada accredited it in February 2024, among the first medical training institutions it had accredited in the UAE. It is also a sponsoring institution of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education International. The first general surgeons trained entirely in the UAE qualified here.
For a Western-trained consultant, none of these names needs learning. Accredited programmes put residents and fellows on the ward, a department that teaches has to keep explaining itself out loud, and certification taken programme by programme means that a doctor wanting to build something has a framework to build it against and a body that will come and look. Because the hospital’s three fields are the fields you work in, the difficult case is not referred away from you. It arrives here, and it arrives at a meeting.
What Is It Like to Work at Tawam as a Consultant?
The hospital describes itself as a 561-bed facility led by Western-trained, North American and European board-certified, and Arab board-certified physicians, all licensed by the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi. That is a description of the colleague across the table at the multidisciplinary meeting, someone who sat the examinations you sat, or ones whose weight you can judge without asking, so a case can be put in the shorthand you already use. The word the hospital uses is led, not staffed, and none of it appears in a job description.
The employer is SEHA, licensing sits with the Department of Health, and every physician at Tawam holds one of its licences. The package is built from parts rather than a single number: the salary is not taxed, an end-of-service gratuity accrues across the term and is paid when it ends, housing comes as an allowance on top of the salary, and medical cover extends to the doctor and the family. Job seekers should refer to the gulf job offer guide to understand the specifics of the employment contracts. This resource highlights the benefits and allowances that come with positions in the region.
How Allocation Assist Supports Doctors Relocating to the Gulf
As a medical recruitment and healthcare jobs consultancy in Dubai, our team has been placing Western-trained doctors in top-tier hospitals across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar for over 11 years. We work exclusively with consultant-level physicians and maintain relationships with 95+ leading institutions.
Key Areas of Support
- Hospital matching, finding the right environment for your specialty, seniority, and personality.
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- Interview and salary negotiation support, so you walk into the conversation prepared.
- Relocation and family logistics, coordinating the practical side of the move for the whole family.
- Ongoing support after you arrive, including networking events and a peer community of doctors who have made the same move.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tawam Hospital known for?
Established in 1979, Tawam is a referral centre in Al Ain built around three fields: cancer, women’s health, and children’s health. It is licensed for 561 beds, operated by SEHA, and takes complex cases from across the country.
What cancer accreditations does it hold?
It holds six Joint Commission International clinical programme certifications in cancer, recertified in 2021 at a 99.5 percent compliance score. Its breast centre was accredited by the American College of Surgeons in 2015, the first outside the United States.
What advanced cancer technology does Tawam have?
It installed Abu Dhabi’s first CyberKnife S7 in November 2025 and uses histotripsy, which destroys liver tumours with focused ultrasound from outside the body, without surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy.
Is Tawam a teaching hospital?
Yes. Its programmes are accredited by the Department of Health, and it is recognised as a teaching institution by the Emirati National Institute for Health Specialties, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the ACGME International. The first general surgeons trained entirely in the UAE qualified here.
Who works at Tawam?
The hospital describes itself as led by Western-trained, North American and European board-certified, and Arab board-certified physicians, all licensed by the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi.
What are the employment terms?
The employer is SEHA. The salary is not taxed, an end-of-service gratuity accrues across the contract, housing comes as an allowance on top of the salary, and medical cover extends to the doctor and the family.
