The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) celebrated the graduation of more than 200 future healthcare professionals during the annual Conferring Ceremony, held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The morning’s School of Medicine ceremony was attended by His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, on behalf of His Royal Highness Prime Minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and witnessed the graduation of more than 100 doctors for the first time in the university’s history.
The afternoon’s School of Nursing and Midwifery ceremony honoured the graduation of over 100 nurses and was attended by Her Excellency, Minister of Health, Faeqa Al Saleh.
RCSI Bahrain’s eighth annual Conferring Ceremony welcomed over 1,200 guests, including staff, stakeholders, special guests, dignitaries, government officials, students’ families and senior representatives of RCSI in Dublin.
In accepting their awards from RCSI President, Professor John Hyland, and RCSI Bahrain President, Professor Sameer Otoom, yesterday’s graduates received degrees from RCSI Bahrain and the National University of Ireland (NUI).
Addressing the assembled attendees, Professor Hyland congratulated the graduates on their achievements to date and praised the ongoing relationship between RCSI and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Professor Otoom also took the opportunity to congratulate the graduates and extended particular gratitude to the friends and family members who had supported them in their achievements.
As ever, the Conferring Ceremony provided an opportunity to recognise students for exceptional performances throughout their undergraduate training and it proved to be a particularly momentous occasion for Dr Ahmed Al Abassi, who was awarded the James Finucane Prize in Medicine; the John Murphy Prize in Obstetrics and Gynaecology as well as the Degree Award Marks Gold Medal.
The Niall O’Higgins Prize in Surgery was presented to Dr Rohit Goswamy, while the Highest Aggregate Marks Gold Medal was awarded to Dr Judy Al Ahmad, who also delivered the 2017 School of Medicine Valedictorian address.
The Clinical Lecturer Award for Medicine, as voted by the graduating class, was presented to, Bahrain Defence Force hospital Consultant Anaesthetist, Dr Khalid Abdulghaffar.
In the School of Nursing and Midwifery honours, The BSc Nursing Gold Medal was awarded to Khawla Al Husain, who also delivered the valedictorian address; the BSc Nursing – Bridging Gold Medal went to Huda Braeek and the Rufaida Alaslamia Prize in Nursing was presented to outgoing graduate, Maryam Abdulla.
Yesterday’s ceremony brought to more than 1,300, the number of RCSI Bahrain graduates since the inaugural Conferring ceremony back in 2010.
RCSI Bahrain is a constituent university of RSCI, which was established in 1784. Like its Irish counterpart, RCSI Bahrain is a not-for-profit health sciences institution focused on education and research to drive positive change in all areas of human health worldwide.
