The National Library and Archives Shed Light on the Health Conditions in the Trucial States
The National Library and Archives organized a virtual lecture on health conditions in the Trucial States from 1900 to 1971. The lecture demonstrated that people in the Trucial Coast relied on traditional medicine and that, due to the prevalent health condition, medical services were urgently needed.
The lecture, presented by the Researcher Dr. Asmaa Yousef Al Kindi, showcased various diseases and epidemics that claimed many human lives on the Trucial Coast, such as the plague, measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, Malaria, and both intestinal and eye diseases, highlighting that these epidemics spread rapidly due to political, social, military, and business reasons.
The lecture discussed several diseases and epidemics that have affected the Trucial Coast over the past three decades and shed light on the role of traditional medicine and folk healers in addressing these diseases. It highlighted how traditional medicine played a major role in treating people on the Trucial Coast through various practices, including Hijama (wet cupping), marking (cauterization), wiping, massage, as well as injuries treatment such as wounds were addressed with water, salt, and Arabic frankincense, while broken bones and fractures were treated with splinting, and abdominal diseases were treated with folk recipes.
The lecture also introduced several folk healers in the Trucial Coast, such as the folk healer Khamis bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei from Abu Dhabi was known for treating his patients with cauterization, the folk healer Rashid bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Shehhi from Ras Al Khaimah was famous for treating with cupping and preparing medicinal herbs. As well as the folk healer Saleh Al-Mutawa from Dubai who wrote a medical manuscript that includes sixty-seven chapters on various parts of the human body, preserved at the Juma Al Majid Centre. Additionally, the folk healer Ali bin Amer bin Saif Al Rawahi Al Absi from Fujairah was known for his treatment of fevers and tuberculosis and was skilled in the art of vaccination. The lecture also mentioned the visits of some itinerant physicians from Arabian Gulf countries and Arab countries to the Trucial Coasts.
Dr. Asmaa Al Kindi pointed out that the American-Arab missions and their health and medical role in the Trucial States has introduced several doctors, including Samuel Marinus Zwemer, Sharon Thomas, and Dr. Sarah Hosmon.