Published: January 07, 2009 10:48 am      

Three new doctors ready to go to work in McAlester

The hospital board heard about three new doctors serving the area during its regular meeting Monday.

McAlester Regional Health Center CEO Shaun Beggs reported that two new hospitalists have joined the hospital, although both are still waiting for their state licenses before they can begin practicing. Dr. Mohammad Malik, of New Jersey, began his orientation at the hospital Monday, Beggs said, and Dr. Ehab Suleiman, of Iowa, is expected to arrive in July.

Malik was a resident of internal medicine at a Paterson, N.J., hospital for three years until December, and was an extern in internal medicine at a Washington, D.C., hospital for a year. He studied medicine in Pakistan where he was active in studies of kidney disease, and he organized medical camps for the poor in Pakistan and helped with door-to-door polio immunizations in Peshawar. He was also active in sports and drama while in school.

Suleiman studied medicine in Jordan and Iowa, , serving his residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. He was director of the Intensive Care Unit and practiced internal medicine at the Commonwealth Health Center at Saipan in the Mariana Islands, and was chairman of the pharmacy and therapeutics committee at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa, for three years.

Beggs said another doctor is also in McAlester and is expected to open his outpatient practice Monday, specializing in internal medicine. Dr. Dong Zhao has worked in Talihina at the Choctaw Nation Health Care Center since 2003, and previously taught at El Paso, Texas, and was a pathologist in China. His residency work was done at a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital and he also attended schools in California, Texas and China.

Beggs said that by the end of this month, the hospital will have three hospitalists signed for work at the McAlester facility, and two will be employed by a contractor to work at MRHC.

The MRHC authority meets in public session once a month at the hospital.