In its earliest days, the hospital was run from the most basic of buildings. Initially used as a guesthouse, it was a makeshift structure made of palm branches and corrugated aluminium, before it moved into a permanent building.

Despite limited resources, the Kennedys laid the foundations of a healthcare system that would transform the region. Among myriad achievements, they introduced Al Ain’s first X-ray machine in 1964 and established a blood bank. For many, though, its identity remains rooted in those early years.

Ibrahim remembers one day in particular, which was “unforgettable”. He recalled the birth of President Sheikh Mohamed in 1961. “In front of the hospital, people sent camels and goats as gifts,” he says. “There was so much food. One person gave 10 camels.”

Dr Pat Kennedy instructed Ibrahim to distribute the donations to the community as celebrations lasted a week.

“Sheikh Zayed was giving to everyone,” he says. “We didn't know where to send it all but we couldn't just leave it at the hospital. There was so much goodness and love at the time.”

On Sheikh Mohamed in particular, he recalls Dr Pat Kennedy saying: "Be careful of this boy. He has power." Dr Pat Kennedy, Ibrahim said, added that Sheikh Mohamed would one day return to the hospital in a position of great authority.

Ibrahim adds that Dr Pat Kennedy made the comments as Sheikh Mohamed was playing Gallinah and Matou, a popular game played in the region using two wooden sticks of differing length where the winner is decided based on who can hit the smaller stick furthest.

More than 150,000 children have been born at the hospital since, including many members of the UAE leadership and prominent figures in public life.

The early years of the hospital were marked by improvisation and resilience.

Ibrahim recalls how Dr Pat Kennedy travelled to Dubai to obtain a generator at a time when electricity was not widely available.

“It was a very big generator,” he recalls. “But there were no direct roads. We had to go from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, then from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain.”

In the absence of basic infrastructure, the doctors adapted. They carried out procedures with limited equipment, relied on donations and gave blood themselves when needed.

More than six decades later, that same hospital is now one of the UAE’s leading maternity and neonatal centres – a transformation that reflects both medical advancement and continuity of purpose.

Dr Hala Abu Subieh, a consultant in maternal foetal medicine, returned to the UAE after nearly two decades of training in Ireland and the UK, drawn by what she describes as a clear sense of purpose.

“What drew me to Kanad Hospital specifically is that it is a non-profit organisation,” she says. “They focus not just on delivering care, but on reaching out to those in need.”

Her work centres on high-risk pregnancies and she recalls one case involving a baby with a severe gastrointestinal abnormality that had gone undiagnosed elsewhere.

At Kanad, the team was able to identify the condition, closely monitor the pregnancy and make the decision to deliver early. The baby underwent surgery shortly after birth and survived. “They [the parents] were very appreciative,” she says. “They named the baby after me.”

Beyond clinical expertise, she emphasises a different approach to care. “We don’t treat mothers as patients,” she says. “We treat them as mothers who are really concerned about their baby.”

For Dr Fares Chedid, a consultant neonatologist who joined the hospital in 2018, the focus is on what happens after birth.

Trained in Belgium and Australia, he was drawn to Kanad by its history and model.

“It is one of the rare hospitals that is not for profit,” he says. “Every penny is reinvested in patient care, equipment and staffing.”

When he arrived, the neonatal intensive care unit was still developing. Today, it has grown into a highly specialised centre handling some of the most complex cases in the region.

Among its most significant achievements is the survival of extremely premature infants. “We are talking about babies born at 22 weeks,” he says. “The tiniest babies.”

These infants, often weighing between 400g and 1kg, face a high risk of complications and mortality, but outcomes at Kanad have improved significantly.

Centralising high-risk cases has also played a role. As one of only two tertiary referral centres in Al Ain, the hospital receives the most complex neonatal cases from across the region.

Dr Ralph Leo, chairman of the organisation that now manages Kanad Hospital, says the institution’s non-profit model is central to its success. “Our bottom line is always outcomes, not money,” he says.

His organisation, True Sojourners, took over the hospital during the pandemic. Before taking over, he sought the approval of Sheikh Mohamed.

“He told me something that made all the difference,” Dr Leo recalls. “‘We are family, never forget that.’”

Since then, the hospital has treated more than 5,000 Covid-positive mothers without a single death, while continuing to expand its services. Patients, he says, are drawn not only by quality but by legacy.

For Ibrahim, now known to many as “Baba Ibrahim”, the hospital is more than a workplace. It is his life and he remembers Sheikh Zayed visiting regularly.

“Every time he came, he would give us money and ask each of us if we needed anything,” he says. “It was like your father and mother coming to visit you – someone who loved you unconditionally.”

He struggles to speak about the day the UAE Founding Father passed away. “Life stopped,” he says. But in the years since, he says he has seen that same spirit continue.

“When Sheikh Mohamed became the ruler, it was as if Sheikh Zayed came back to us,” he said. “The way he cares, the way he talks, the way he walks.”

Even now, when the President visits the hospital, Ibrahim finds himself running to greet him – just as he did decades ago.

“They are my family,” he says. “Everything I am today, everything Kanad Hospital is – it is because of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Mohamed.”

Baba Ibrahim worked for 57 years at Kanad Hospital. He never received a formal medical degree. But after a lifetime spent helping doctors, assisting patients and witnessing thousands of births, he says simply: “I am a doctor.”