Fatima Hamroush

Fatima Hamroush ‫ فاطمة الحمروش
Health Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 November 2011
Prime Minister	Abdurrahim El-Keib
Personal details
Born	(1960-02-14) 14 February 1960 Benghazi, Libya
Nationality	Libyan, Irish
Political party	Independent
Profession	Ophthalmologist
Religion	Sunni Islam

Fatima Hamroush (Arabic: فاطمة الحمروش) (born 14 February 1960) is an ophthalmologist and Libyan politician.

Personal life

Born in Benghazi on 14 February 1959, Hamroush moved to Ireland in 1996 and later became an Irish citizen.^[1] She lived in Julianstown, County Meath, Ireland. She has four children.^[2]

Medical career

In February 1983, Hamroush graduated with a medical degree (MB BS) from Garyounis University and in December 1999 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.^[3] Hamroush is a member of the Irish College of Ophthalmologists, specialising in glaucoma, medical retina, and neuro-ophthalmology.^[4] From 2000, until the 2011 Libyan civil war, Hamroush held the position of consultant ophthalmologist at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Ireland.

From November 2011 to November 2012, Dr Hamroush held the position of the Minister of Health in the Libyan Transitional Government. During her term, Dr Hamroush showed remarkable character and intolerance to corruption and, despite the difficult circumstances, she successfully formed foundations for national medical services for her successors . She returned to Ireland in November, after handing over to the new Minister of Health, Dr Noureddine Doghman.

In January 2013, she resumed her public consultant ophthalmologist post in OLLH and her private practice in Drogheda.^[5]

Political career

On 22 November 2011, Hamroush was announced as Libya's first female Health Minister by Prime Minister of Libya Abdurrahim El-Keib.^[6] Hamroush is also director of Irish Libyan Emergency Aid.^[7] Dr Hamroush is the daughter of Abdullah Hamroush, former colonel and court-martial judge during the kingdom, before the coup in 1969. Her father was jailed on the night of the coup in an act of revenge for imprisoning Gaddafi in 1967 after being charged with torturing a soldier during a training session. Her father was kept in jail for four years before a court hearing declared him innocent.

Dr Hamroush opposed the Gaddafi regime and became a well-known and active member of Libyan opposition from 2008, where she collaborated with many members of the Libyan opposition abroad and inside Libya. However, for security reasons, she used the synonym "Alleebeya" الليبية when she published many articles in opposition websites, shared in raising public, local and international awareness of the dictatorial regime and became the co-editor of the opposition website "Libya Almostaqbal" from 2009 to January 2011. She also assisted in funding demonstrations worldwide in support of the Libyan people's struggle against the Gaddafi regime.

Her identity was revealed at the onset of the 17th of February 2011 revolution, when she raised the Libyan tricolour flag in front of the GPO in Dublin's city centre. She was witnessed as the first person to raise the flag in the Republic of Ireland.

On the 26th of February 2011, she and her son, Abdullah Elneihum, founded the Irish Libyan Emergency Aid (ILEA), a humanitarian aid organisation to provide medical supplies to Libya during the revolution, which assisted in providing medical equipment and consumables during the revolution to almost all areas in Libya. In September2011, upon the request of the executive office of the National Transitional Council, Dr Hamroush formed the Libyan Health Office Of Ireland to assist in the treatment of the war wounded and difficult medical cases whose treatment was unavailable in Libya. She was also quoted that the office was formed to assist in recruiting medical specialists to Libya and improve medical training with the aim of nationalising treatment.

From March 2012 to August, Dr Hamroush became involved in a controversy when blocking major corruption within the war wounded treatment program, which was directed by a separate department outside of the Ministry of Health. By August 2012, she blocked the War Wounded Committee from continuing its unorthodox practise and merged the treatment of the war wounded into the health department and issued decrees for criminal and forensic accounting procedures.^[8]

During her short term, Dr Hamroush put in motion many stalled projects of her Ministry. At the end of her term, she presented an account of her term to the General National Council and the Temporary Government, highlighting the need to control security and corruption along with raising the standards of work ethics and administrative skills among Libyan population in order to achieve the goals of the revolution.

References