INSIGHTS FROM A PLASTIC SURGEON IN DUBAI

Welcome back to the Dubai Dogs Diary Show, where we interview doctors who built a real medical career in the UAE and break down what it actually takes to relocate or to be a licensed doctor to work in Dubai. I'm your host, Angela. Angela Thomas and I run Dubai Doctors Fastrack, where we help also medical professionals to move to Dubai and build your medical career. And today's guest is Dr. Wangal, a plastic surgeon from South Africa who is actually uh here practicing in UAE for a quite of a while. In this episode, we get into why he chose plastic surgery and what it is to work in Dubai. Let us know Dr. Wangal. We know already for some of your years on a totally other background. We can get into it. that's my medical uh background as well for getting the bridge to all of everybody and uh I'm very happy to have you in my network and always somebody who I can pick the brain of being a medical expert here in Dubai whenever I have somebody who's coming here from all of the putitions towards doctors that's a good place to go to ask you so let us know uh what made you be a plastic surgeon

Wow. Thank you, Angela, for having me. So, um, yeah, it's a long journey. It's 22 years. Um, I've always wanted to be a doctor. My father was a doctor. He's a gynecologist. And so medicine was in my blood. Um my first love is actually trauma surgery. You know, coming from South Africa, a lot of crime, so gunshots, car accidents, etc. So I love trauma surgery. Um and and then I changed to plastic surgery after meeting a young lady who had a breast reduction. Mhm. And I realized that plastic surgery is also life-changing, not just cosmetics or beautifification. Um, so there's a lot of reconstruction involved in cosmetics and I really enjoyed that part of plastic surgery. Mhm. Very interesting. So I envied the uh background that you have uh today in South Africa with all of the in uh injuries that you have and then shifting to plastic surgery is something very uh unique and I felt when we met you understood very well what it means for a female for example to be injured or not so well treated for example on her feminine parts and that is something that uh you have understood very well now. Yeah. Let us a little bit know how it is to work here in Dubai. How long you are here as a medical doctor? Okay. Well, I've been here now for just short of four years. So, 3 years, 9 months, 10 months. And it's been challenging. Mhm. But exciting at the same time. M I think we all come from different systems. Whether you come from Germany, South Africa, Australia, America, our healthare systems are different. So the biggest part of my journey here is learning how to adapt. Mh. It's easy to compare to where we come from, but you have to adapt to where we are. And I think that's been the the hardest part. At the same time, exciting. I think uh I left South Africa because I w I wanted to have a different challenge in life and I got it and that's why I'm here. It was a midlife crisis. You know when you get to uh 40 plus you start thinking about our life is I need something excitement in my life and I chose Dubai. Um my best friend lives here. Um and it was exciting place to come to learn new things, be a part of a system that's growing, evolving um full of opportunity. So yeah, it's been very exciting so far. When you actually talked about in your surrounding a uh African um yeah friendship or the the people family that you wanted to come or that you wanted to move maybe also take somebody along the journey. How was it? Was it wellreceived or was it kind of oh yeah we have to maybe also leave the comfort zone if you wanted to go maybe then your your circle your inner circle of family maybe have belittled your vision is that something that you have experienced most definitely my wife still lives in Cape Town South Africa um she's got a great job and she's happy there so yeah we're doing long distance for the moment But it's been challenging. My family were very supportive. My mom, my dad, my sister were very supportive. My close friends, it was 50/50. Many of them said, "Don't leave. Stay. Why do you want to go?" etc. And uh many of them, the other half of them said, "It's exciting. Go enjoy." Many of my colleagues said, "Don't go." Yes. Because they were afraid of change, adapting. You know, as we study medicine for so many years, we know one system, one way of doing things. The fact that you have to now go to a new country and change and learn was scary for them. So, a lot of them try to talk me out of it. Um, but yeah, I I persisted and um I'm happy I'm here. Very good. So, when you say uh that some of the people who didn't want you to leave, Yeah. they saw you leaving basically and you Yeah. a big part of your environment. Your wife is has not taken on this journey. There must have been something really big as far as a motivation that you went despite. What exactly attracted you on Dubai so much that you even went into a step of a long-distance relationship? It's a good question. So, I like to break it down. I think the first part is career. Mhm. uh I was quite successful in South Africa. I had my own clinic, had my own staff, part of the university teaching. Um so I was very happy with my career in South Africa but I got bored and I think complacency or being in a comfort zone for me I like excitement. I like um new challenges and I knew if I stay in South Africa for longer I would have gotten bored and that was the biggest thing for me. So that's why I said okay career personal life we just got married my wife and I and uh that was the biggest challenge that was the biggest challenge but my wife is 10 years younger than I am and she's in the data science AI space um in South Africa and I'm hoping that she comes here because this country is exploding when it comes to digital and technology and AI and uh that it's a long-term plan you know so I we we spoke about it and we discussed it in detail and I'm hoping that she comes. Yes. Um so those are the two things in her personal life and career. Um I have my the support of my wife. She she still says go ahead do what you need to do. It's it's hard doing long distance. Um but we're making it work and I'm waiting for her to come and join me here. Yes. Well first the market here is very AIdriven and there's a lot of opportunities for somebody. But what impresses me the most is that you are behaving literally like a stalk as we say in Germany because they are traveling ahead to prepare the nest somehow for the female to come after. And did you know that a lot of sts they have to build the nest every year new and if the nest is not right prepared the stalk female is flying pass by uh this nest. So this is this is life. This is life. Exactly. But uh it it is uh really required some courage to to do and go ahead especially having your own clinic and I find doctors are being in a similar position where they have their comfort zone but they are not getting overloaded they're getting bored out or maybe also have in different kind of the words the aspect of security which you find here in Dubai very much as a big motivator to step out of your comfort zone or the the area that you are in having your own clinic, leaving this behind or maybe partially behind and to go on and implement yourself where you can foster your your career, where you can bring your career forward is something very brave I have to say and uh just explain us where and what did you what was your first steps when you chose okay I'm leaving my uh own clinic and I'm building a life as a medical doctor here as a surgeent in Dubai. What were your first steps? So, I was very fortunate. I had a friend who was already who Dr. Michael who already was in the UAE. He came to the UAE a year ahead of me. Mh. And after he was here, he was brought through another colleague of his. So what we find um what's a common occurrence in the medical sector here in the UAE is that people that areworked and you have a large network in the world so you worked with somebody in the US or you've worked somebody in the UK they can give your CV to the hospital or the clinic etc and then bring you in this this I find is the easiest way of of people coming into the country so again Dr. Michael was my good friend and dear friend for many years. We trained together. He moved a year ahead of me and he's the one that called me up and said, "Would you like to come?" Mhm. And I said, "Sure. I'm pretty bored. I'm successful but pretty bored and I need a new challenge." And that was it. I forgot to mention one thing. The the another motivational factor was lifestyle. South Africa has got a great lifestyle. Um, but the two things that really changed my mind of coming here was taxes and security. Safety. I think that Dubai UAE is, you know, we know you don't pay taxes here. And safety and security. You don't have to look over your shoulder. Um, you can leave your car doors open, your house doors open. It's pretty safe here in the UAE. safety is a big motivator basically for a lot of people that also have the family in their backpack or spouses any kids or so. So yeah, so you mentioned the network is something that helped you a really uh big part of uh going along. Did you do all of the licensing out of your own uh situation or did you took some help or how was this journey? Was it easy to catch or was it something that you was like, "Oh god, I I wish I had some help on that one." It is it is difficult. Again, you know, when you're in your own country, you know the systems in new countries, different systems. So, it takes six months to one year to get licensed in the country. Yes. And the people that help you along are the hospitals. So, the HR, the admin staff, they they tell you what they require while you're still in your own country. Mhm. They needed to do something called dataf flow. I'm sure you know about data flow, right? So data flow people contact you and they say we require all your certificates, all your documentation, all your qualifications and it'll take about six months to process. If you do that process by yourself without a hospital or clinic help, it'll take some time and I think about a year. The company or the department called dataf flow, they are very efficient. They will actually phone your university. Yes. In your home country and check. They will go visit and they will do background checks because that's one things about the what's unique about the UAE. It's cream of the crop. They want the best of the best to be here. Yes. So they want to make sure that you are well qualified, you are well trained and that you you you are who you are, what you say in your CV. Yeah. So data flow takes about six to 12 months. Yes. We have the same experience. If people come they do it by themselves and um when we help them we can mender the time actually from uh four to six months to have this uh completed. So um I wanted to get a little bit in you said the hospitals and the HR is helping you with this process but often it is like you don't even find a job when you don't have the licensing. So you must be a very unique expert in your field in your specification that the uh hospital comes around and says okay this is such an expert we can make really good revenue with him and that's why we help you. The actually workflow is that you should have um your data flow and your licensing your eligibility letter in place when you are applying otherwise in this fastpass city sometimes you don't even have a chance is that right and is it also uh align with your experience 100% um when I had my first interview it was purely by luck with med clinic many years ago and they it was a random impromptu meeting and they wanted me to start straight away. Mhm. And then they said, "By any chance, do you have your license and and um and Emirates ID?" And I said, "No, I don't." They said, "We need someone straight away." So that taught me something that in this country, you need to have all your documentation up to date before you can even be visible. Yes. Um so that's another thing is to make sure that if you want to come here get the process of your license and Emirates ID as quick as possible four to six months one year and then you make your vis you make yourself more visible to the appropriate clinics and and hospitals. Very good. And uh thank you for for sharing your expertise. I I know that when we met you was working in a hospital. Now this is different. Tell us a little bit about both of the sites because our listeners, our medical experts from abroad they will actually they will be so glad to hear what are the working in a hospital and what is like to work in a clinic. Okay. So my I've been now involved in three different jobs. Mh. Um and the first two are hospital-based and the second the third one is now private clinic based. Mhm. So the hospital-based jobs were salaried. So you get a fixed salary depending on the hospital. So the first hospital was government sector. The second hospital was a private sector hospital. Very large organization. And the third sector, the third part was a private clinic. Mh. So let's start with the government. The government was really good, very uh organized, very academic uh which I enjoyed. I love I love academics. So there was good uh interdep departmental workings. Um salary was was was good and there was perks about housing, children's education. Um they pay for your health insurance. They pay for your medical negligence. Um yeah, I'm trying to think anything else. That's pretty much it. Living allowance or something? No, no living allowance. They do pay your relocation cost if it is um your first hospital that you're getting a job into. Right. Now comparing that to the private sector hospital um which is a very big organization again they had the same except they didn't there was no relocation cost obviously there was um one salary package which included your housing which regards to the government hospital it was housing separate salary separate there was a few more perks um the private sector had very little academics and you very individual-based Mhm. So government sector you work in a department, private sector, hospital, you work individually. So you're by yourself. Uh you're the intern, the community doctor, you are the the nurse, everything by yourself. So it's it is reward revenue-wise. The private sector was was obviously better, but you work harder, which is fair. Um now to the private clinic, it is in the private clinic there's also two options. You've got a salaried option or you've got a part-time option. The salaried option is you have to listen to the clinic rules. The clinic wants you there six days a week, 5 days a week, you have to follow the rules. The clinic belongs to an owner and you work in their clinic and you salaried. Uh I've chosen the part-time option. Therefore, if I do a surgery on a patient, we share the revenue. Mhm. So the clinic takes a portion, I take a portion and that can be discussed at the interview or at the meetings. Um, so this is just basically how it can work. You can open up your own clinic if you want to. It's not difficult. It's going to be challenging depending on your discipline whether you're um orthopedic surgeon, cardiothoracic surgeon. Um it's not difficult to have your own clinic. It just takes a lot of documentation, licensing, approvals, etc. But yeah, everything is doable. Very good. And you mentioned a part that you are able actually to to leverage your salary in terms when you negotiate your salary package when you maybe have an good opportunity to get a cut out of the operations that you do. So that is something that you can um yeah negotiate uh in terms of getting more out of your knowledge, getting more out of your doing. It is also possible to um activate your license under different clinics. So having an part-time activation or part-time activity in a private clinic and then maybe in a hospital, is it also possible? Do you take this in consideration or is there any restriction about that? It depends on the clinic that you're working or the hospital that you're working on. They have to give you permission to work somewhere else. So that's called a no objection certificate in NOC and they will allow you to you can work or you cannot work outside the the the respective area. So it just depends on the clinic. Yeah. And Dr. Winka uh in Dubai to be a doctor here it doesn't fly onto your plate that you get uh clients. So it's very important that you have your network. Yes. That you know people. Yes. But it's also very important that you be known by especially the people that they come to you. And uh I find when you are a doctor in Dubai uh even if you are employed not having your own clinic the marketing aspect a lot of people do not uh understand that they have to do it on their own. And I see your marketing activity on top-notch uh on top-notch quality and I always follow your content. So with such a big passion because also I see the passion in your in your field. Explain how much freedom you have. How big is the stack of having your own marketing on top? And a lot of people forget that this is actually an even a question during an interview. Who is making your marketing? And a lot of people I realize they are they are showing uh Miss Thomas who doesn't even know anything about it. How do you do it and why you do what you do? That's a it's a heavy question. So personally coming from South Africa we you know when we were taught again 20 years of of doing medicine now we were very actually shy we doctors are generally shy when it comes to marketing social media. um not the younger generation. I think they they do quite well with social media and marketing. But I think that you have to have a very strong marketing team uh or a person or a um social media presence. My philosophy is that you cannot have work in the UAE without this. Mhm. So the old school way of word of mouth, good work, um let your work show for yourself is still very much important. At the same time need social media marketing. So I always try to keep it as for me personally not to say I am the best come to me etc. No, I like the educational part. So where I like to show that what surgery can how surgery can benefit you, how surgery can make you better and before and after pictures. There's a lot of regulations about social media and medicine. So it's important that each doctor understands their department. So for plastic surgery, we cannot show naked pictures for example. Um so there's means and ways of of of showing that via dry diagrams or explanations or sketches and you have to work around it. But marketing is vital part of a doctor's life in the UAE. Yeah. A lot of times underestimated out of my point of view and uh I I really think that's one of the part that you are very successful in getting visibility because nobody is I mean what is the use in having a really good talent a really good skill if you are not able to make it visible. So that's something yeah I just have to give you that credit. you're doing is such a trying I'm trying you're doing such a good thing. Yeah. So what are the actually three steps a doctor who's thinking about relocating to Dubai to work here as a doctor even a full relocation or maybe also as a visiting doctor? What are the three advices that you would give somebody to support a colleague? Um good question. Three advices. Um firstly make sure that so I will be giving a colleague obviously general um surgical advice because obviously my network is surgical based. First thing get your log book your surgical log book up to date. Um make sure that your documentation that wherever whichever country you come from that all your documents are organized. Surgeons we always have them somewhere in the back. We don't keep them already stacked up and ready up to date. So I think that's the first thing. keep your documentation. Secondly, I think it's important to understand how the country works. Come for a visit, see how the country is. Have discussions um before you make any commitment. Come and speak to many people in different medical setups, hospital, clinics, rehab centers, etc., etc. try to speak to as many people and get as much as information because me as your friend will only sell you the nice things and give you the honest part as well but I think get information from other people and I think thirdly it's important that if you are married make sure that your spouse is on on board because a lot of people come here with leaving their families behind you know kids are small or children are still in school you want to make sure that your spouse and your family are on A lot of people come and and say, "Oh, but I can't bring my family or I can bring my family." The difficulty about a family life. So, I think in summary, documentation up to date, come and visit and make sure you have family support. Mhm. I have a little bit time for extra question. I wanted to know at one point uh I was calling you and you said I have to leave for a for a little while and then you went back to South Africa. Yes. And that has been a decision um chain. Explain to me why did you leave and why did you come back and what is different now? That's a great question. So I hope it's not so personal. Not at all. It's you know every man knows who's the boss. Ah okay. And um so what happened was after I left the second hospital so again government hospital first one private hospital second one I went back home for a short break. Mhm. spent some time with my wife and just to reassess life. You know, I had three years here. I was had a great time. I wanted to make sure that what I've decided to do for the last three years, I'm happy to carry on doing. And uh went home, spoke to my wife, spoke to my family, spoke to many friends, and then I decided to say I still want to have a life-changing experience. Mhm. So I am now between South Africa and Dubai. Mhm. doing medical tourism. So, I'm doing some surgeries here, some surgeries back home, which will make my wife happy because I spend more time with her. Very good. And uh yeah, they get to travel a little bit. Um taking on different skills, learning to play the drums. So, yeah, I think um you know, midlife crisis happens for for for many people, not just men and women, but I think for or not just men, I think women as well. And uh I'm still going through a midlife crisis. I wouldn't say crisis, I'll say midlife challenge. Yes, it's not a crisis. I think I see you not not at all of a crisis. Thank you following very much volatility of this word. you know you see a vibrant market here in Dubai where you can actually involve all of your talent develop it and on the other hand you have also a family who doesn't want to move and you contribute and a lot of people who going to watch this video they might be on the same stage and they think I'm very um successful in my home country but yet there is something that is missing out of what reasons security taxes yeah your own life desire of who you want to be, where you want to be and all of these things and then it's something good that you said that you have you call it medical tourism I call it visiting doctor it is something that you actually showcase that it is possible you can actually fulfill the need of you being here in such a vibrant market assess it a little bit more in order to find and build this little tree that you wanted to sit on very valid and solid even also for your family while having your backup in your home country. It's something very uh beautiful and I think um a lot of people will be inspired by that. Thank you. Thank you. And um tell us a little bit where we going to find you here in Dubai or in Instagram or in social media. We sure going to connect every show note and information that you wanted to be connected with with our audience. But uh please carry on in letting us know where we can find you. So in Dubai I work in two small smaller clinics. Uh one is in Waffy Mall. It's called 360 medical and the even one for an award. I had them actually 360 medic. Yeah I had them in my mysterious shopping I think. Oh okay great test. And um yeah the the owner there and is an ENT surgeon Dr. Mohammed Alasi. Nicest guy ever. Um so I've been working with him now for well 10 months and um a second clinic I work at is at Riri Poly Clinic. They're based in JAR and Alwasel Street. They've just opened doors. So I'm happy to have joined them because they're a brand new clinic and um there's a young doctor and she's from Iraq and I asked her I said why are you opening a clinic in Dubai when there's thousands of clinics in Dubai? Her answer really inspired me and that's why I've joined them. and her answer was I want to be the safest most ethical clinic in Dubai with the best results and not through social media but through word of mouth because of quality surgeries and that was uh very inspirational. So uh I said okay fine I'll join you and that's the two clinics I work in at the moment. Very good. Thank you for sharing that. Is a good vision. Thank you. I'm going to make sure everything is connected in the show notes and in the info box. So, thank you for being here and uh thank you for letting us a little bit uh put the spotlight on your daily daily work and your motivation. Appreciate that. Thank you for having me. Thanks. Thank you.

Good. Thank you. You had a teleprompter. I had nothing. No, that was just for the intro. Everything is what?