Hadi Clinic is one of the oldest private hospitals in Kuwait and has always spearheaded innovative health services, but with Dr. Faten Al-Mailam at the helm, she has been steering the medical team towards all that is cutting edge in medical technology and philosophy.
Dr. Faten’s newly redesigned office at Hadi Clinic was not what we were expecting. Despite being the hospital’s CEO, her space is personal, warm and welcoming. Instead of displays of power or status, Al-Mailam proudly hangs her personal art on the walls. She pointed to one and explained that it was Fahad Senior, her father and Fahad Junior, her son. There are two bean bags, a yoga mat with meditation cushions and a small conference table in her office. The floor to ceiling glass windows allow the room to be bathed in the warm glow of sunlight and help nourish her plants that give the entire room a more nature-filled feel.
She invited us to try the warm organic lemongrass tea freshly picked from her indoor garden. With wellness at the core of her ethos at Hadi Hospital, the doctor likes to lead by example and told us “How can I expect others to do the things I recommend to them, if I am not doing them myself.”
Her journey has been long and winding but in hindsight, it seems as if she were purposefully heading to where she is today. While she was living in the US she completed her PhD in Hospital Management. When she returned to Kuwait, she found that her underlying understanding of medicine coupled with her knowledge of new business science helped her speak the two languages needed to run a hospital.
When we mentioned that some of us find it difficult to accept that medical care is a business, she was quick to explain “Business is not about money, it is about efficiencies.” Al-Mailam believes that her role is to help Hadi Clinic become as efficient as possible with all of the available resources, so they can provide the best service for their patients. This includes everything from time, consumables, human capital and even skills and knowledge.
Dr. Faten is soft-spoken, and her calming presence is a testament to her commitment to her beliefs. Fifteen years ago, a chance encounter with a Harvard professor introduced her to Integrative Medicine, which combines complementary and alternative medicine practices with conventional medicine. Intrigued, she asked him for more evidence-based studies and once she was convinced, she organized a trip for her consultants and specialists at the clinic so they could learn more about the new practice.
After meeting Dr. Herbet Benson the founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and reviewing the research and scientific evidence that supported it, she and a team from Hadi Clinic were trained by Harvard professors to become practitioners of Integrative Medicine.
She has been slowly but surely making the necessary implementations to transform Hadi Clinic into the forerunner of Integrative Medicine in Kuwait. But first, she started with internal changes to help the staff lead healthier, more fulfilled, lives. Dr. Faten understands that her staff are the real source of Hadi Clinic’s ability to change the medical scene in Kuwait, and by investing in them and their wellness she can lead them into a new era.
The staff now have access to an on-location gym and three book clubs. She has been encouraging them to meditate on their purpose for the day before they start, so they are grounded in the present and can focus on the now instead of being distracted. She also meets with the staff once a week on Soul Sundays where she gives mini lectures and talks that range in topics.
One of her staff members who was present at our interview added how these little things have already changed her life. Creating these safe spaces and bubbles of time within their busy days to slow down and live with positive intent has helped propel many employees to a better work-life balance, and an improved state of mental and physical health.
Her biggest and most ambitious project so far is the Essential Wellness floor in the clinic. The suites are more than just specially designed hospital rooms, as the floor offers patients a comprehensive service of different therapies to improve their recovery process. As Al-Mailam puts it “Physicians often treat the symptoms only, we want to target the core cause of an issue and deal with that.”
Essential Wellness is a space where physicians and health experts can make use of the latest in medical technology and alternative therapies to create a fully customized healing experience for each individual patient.
This isn’t about the trending wellness industry; it is about the robust science that will prove the efficacy of these therapies. Her team is already collecting the data that will help her measure and calculate how much better it is for her patients to be aided with yoga, meditation, breathing techniques as well as conventional Western medicine. The floor is the first step towards what she hopes to be the full transformation at Hadi Clinic.
Dr. Faten truly believes that we should actively seek to live healthy lives before we are forced to do so because of external or catastrophic forces. “People are willing to spend money on a designer bag, but not on wellness” she said as she highlights the cognitive dissonance that proves how unimportant we believe our health to be until it becomes a problem.
Her convictions are strong, her steps are intelligent and calculated, and we can’t wait to see how she will transform our collective health, one patient and one intention at a time.
Hadi Clinic is located in Block 8, Jabriya on Road 30. For more information follow them on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook @hadiclinickw.
