Sidra

After several weeks of whisking around prospective workplaces I am pleased to report that I will soon be gainfully employed. The other day I signed an employment agreement with Sidra Medical and Research Center, a plush teaching hospital which is soon to be built and is partnered with Weill Cornell University in Qatar .

Sidra will be high-tech, offering clinical care, medical training and biomedical research in Qatar. Sidra will focus mostly on women's and children's health, as well as other issues affecting Qatar's general population such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. Research will be carried out in the research centre part of the comples and will include genetic research.

Sidra is being built under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation, a private, nonprofit organisation, founded by the Emir of Qatar and chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, the Emir's third wife and a driving force behind social and educational development in the country. Qatar Foundation is essentially a capacity-building organisation which aims to develop the potential of Qataris through education and improved quality of life.

Qatar Foundation has built a network of centres devoted to education, research and community welfare, mostly on the site of a remarkable part of Doha called Education City, which is a 2,500 acre building site housing outposts of many of the major learning institutions of the USA. They are being built as fast as you can imagine - no Resource Management Act hoops to jump through here. The institutions include Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar, the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and Georgetown University. Social services, such as Qatar Diabetes Association and the Social Development Center are also run under the Qatar Foundation, as are volunteer and charitable services.

I was sent along for an interview at short notice by a recruitment agency and met a marvellous bunch of women who comprise the fledgling Clinical Planning Directorate. In typical Qatar fashion the process has been convoluted. I was offered a position coordinating maternity planning for the new Sidra hospital, which I accepted. While I was waiting for the contract to arrive, I was contacted again and told that they had relooked at the position and the project structure and, subject to executive approval, would I like to accept a more senior position heading up a team of six to plan maternity services. Needless to say I've accepted and will have the very grand title of Senior Consultant, Clinical Planning for Obstetrical Services, Sidra Hospital.

So I've had an interview for an unspecified position, been offered one they think I have suitable skills for, and have been given a promotion before I've even started! I hope I live up to their expectations, I've no idea yet what they expect a senior consultant to do.

I can start as soon as the police clearance arrives from New Zealand and I go through further CID checks in Qatar, and Department of Labour checks to ensure my husband has no objection to me working outside the home and that there isn't a suitable local person to fill the position......It will probably be early next year that I start.

Luckily, as Garrick arrives in a week for a holiday with us, closely followed by my sister Margie who will spend Christmas with us.

Here's a picture of Ian with me. He's clearly delighted to be in the company of such an august person.