In 1951, under the patronage of Sheikh Saeed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, the first phase of the Al Maktoum Hospital was built and continued over succeeding years until a 157-bed hospital was completed.[2] In 1960, Sheikhs Shakhbut and Zayed of Abu Dhabi visited an American mission in Muscat and were so impressed by what they saw that they invited the couple in charge, Pat and Marian Kennedy, to open a clinic in Al Ain, which they did in the November of that year.[3] This became officially known as the Oasis Hospital, unofficially as the “Kennedy Hospital” to local people.