If it’s true what they say, that crises create miracles, then the coronavirus pandemic, with all the pain that it has caused, has produced stances.
In Saudi Arabia, the new crisis has brought a name to the forefront. How could it not, when he is a person whom all of society eagerly awaits every evening to be reassured of the country’s health conditions and hear the latest updates on the pandemic.
The crisis pushed Dr. Mohammed Abdelali, the Saudi Ministry of Health's spokesperson, to bring out the eloquent media person deep inside of him. He has a strong media presence and competence in using his calm confident tone and relaxed body language to make unsettling news on the pandemic sound soothing to listeners, despite the bitterness of its content.
Abdelali, a surgeon who has earned his degree from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and was the most distinguished pathology fellow in 2018 at King Saud University, stands tall with his scalpel to place his hand on the wounds that the pandemic is leaving, narrating to society and the media, in press conferences, the new developments on the pandemic.
The spokesperson did not only draw Saudi society’s attention to his natural talent at having a media presence and in smoothly conveying information but also his humanitarian sense that was strongly present during this crisis that has left many loved ones dead.
Society will never forget his touching advice in one press conference that was intended to encourage people to look after themselves, as he put aside all of the documents and papers with statistics and numbers about the pandemic, looked at the camera, and said with an empathetic tone, “I am sending this message, not as an official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, physician, or representative of some social body during this emergency, I am sending it as a friend, son, brother, and father to everyone. I beg you to stay at home, stay away from danger, and look after yourselves”.
With his natural talent at giving speeches, Abdelali established a model in health media that has gained the respect of ordinary people before intellectuals and the educated, with his simple, transparent and expert language. At a time that cannot bear any competition or race around a pandemic that has killed tens of thousands around the world, the media points its pages and lenses, every evening, at Abdelali’s press conference, a source of accurate and transparent information.
The role that he has played in standing in the way of rumors was decisive, and his oratory excellence did not make him arrogant or play the role of a lawyer for an organization that he does not represent. On the contrary, he was very responsible, and appreciated the freedom of the press as a fourth authority to criticize, interrogate and question. He opened his heart before his mind, answering here and confirming there, while admitting any possible shortcomings.
