Watch: Qatar's medicine man healing his valuable patients

euronews (in English)

Nasser Muftah is the visionary behind Oryx Falcon Veterinarian. The renowned falcon specialist turned his passion for animals into a thriving business.

Transcript

00:00 The falcon is the closest thing to a falconer's heart.

00:07 So when you come and treat that falcon that the guy had memories with, interactions with,

00:11 you can proceed with that and have more memories.

00:15 It was really hard for me to convince a person to come take my medication since I was working

00:21 from home.

00:22 I had no facilities, nothing.

00:25 I was just working in a small room.

00:27 I would do the medication.

00:28 I would fill up the capsules.

00:30 I would do all of that.

00:31 And it started off like that.

00:33 Today we're able to treat whatever comes through our way.

00:37 Some people say that it's by luck.

00:40 Nothing is by luck.

00:41 I really worked hard to be where I am today.

00:46 My name is Nasser Abdullah Muftah.

00:47 I'm the founder of Orcs Falcon Veterinarian in Qatar.

00:50 It's a symbol to Qatar.

01:07 It's something in our culture, something in our heritage, in our blood.

01:11 It's deeply rooted in Qatar.

01:14 Our families before petrol, before the wealth, before all of that.

01:20 They were living in tents.

01:21 They were in the desert.

01:23 There's no means of survival, food or water.

01:27 So a falcon was a weapon, something to retrieve food, something to support the families and

01:34 get food for them.

01:35 So falconers would go on camel's back or on a horseback or on their feet with nothing,

01:42 just a falcon on their hand.

01:43 They'll go and get food for their family and come back.

01:46 So it was a means of survival.

01:58 It was a dream of mine to have a veterinary.

02:02 I've always had a passion for animals since I've ever remembered.

02:06 My favorite without question is the Arabian gazelles.

02:09 There was a lot of interest in that aspect since young age.

02:13 There's pictures of me just with animals, just running around, holding them, being curious.

02:18 What do they do?

02:19 What is the anatomy?

02:21 I was always interested in biology, always interested in dissecting, always interested

02:26 in medicine.

02:27 I was able to do operations on my own at home, simple operations.

02:32 Falcon is a very important bird in Qatar, simply because it's a national bird.

02:39 There is cultural roots and people are proud of falcons.

02:44 Falcon is not a widely spread species.

02:47 It's not like a normal bird.

02:49 So you don't find a lot of medications or pharmaceutical manufacturers dedicated for

02:54 falcons.

02:55 This forced Nasser to start thinking about the big knowledge of the garden therapeutics,

03:02 dosage forms, and tweak it toward falcons.

03:07 Case is a lesson for a lot of people.

03:10 How you can educate yourself, how you can build a nice learning curve associated with

03:16 true passion, true driving force to work on and get it into things that it's not used.

03:24 This is an hard and science, not an easy thing.

03:30 When you say like there's fractures or bone injuries or skin injuries, these are the easiest.

03:37 You can right away treat it.

03:40 The harder things is the things that you can't see with your eyes, like the bacteria, the

03:46 infections, the issues that are internal.

03:49 I would read research and see what's the better alternatives, the better medication for the

03:54 birds.

03:55 I would test it on my own.

03:56 I would have records.

03:57 How did the medication affect that bird?

04:00 Is it positive?

04:01 Is it negative?

04:03 I was able to combine a team of people of science, people of knowledge.

04:09 They are my back.

04:10 They are my support.

04:13 We have achieved a landmark in falconry.

04:15 We have treated a lot of inpatient falcons, now up to 400 falcons, and our success rate

04:22 is more than 75%.

04:24 We have hyperbaric oxygen chamber.

04:33 It is one of its unique kind in Qatar.

04:36 It helps the falcon boost their red blood count, making the healing faster.

04:44 I will say to NASA, congratulations.

04:47 Starting from scratch with no real support on a dive in field that required a lot of

04:53 details and science, this is really, really an outstanding achievement.

05:00 Today, we have more than 400 inpatients.

05:04 We have more than 2,000 birds treated by our medication for air saccolitis.

05:10 I have more than 32 different types of medication under my veterinarian's name.

05:15 All of them have significant outcomes.

05:23 After let's say 50 years when we're all gone, there is something that I can provide for

05:30 falconers or people of science or medicine.

05:33 I'm giving you my notes, my things that I was able to develop.

05:38 Maybe somebody can carry this and go for a walk.

05:48 [MUSIC]

05:58 you

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