Abubakar Umar Muhamman
From the ancient city of Kano to senior positions in some of the world’s leading healthcare institutions, Dr Abdullah Ali Ngala has built a career spanning more than three decades in nursing, critical care, healthcare management and executive leadership.
A native of Kano State, Nigeria, Ngala’s professional journey has taken him from hospital wards in Kano to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, where he has held senior clinical and administrative positions overseeing thousands of healthcare professionals.
Today, he serves as Regional Director of Nursing for Armed Forces Hospitals in the Taif Western Region of Saudi Arabia, a position he assumed in March 2025.
Ngala began his nursing career in 1989 as a Nursing Officer at Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, where he gained experience in patient care and discharge planning.
Between 1993 and 1998, he served as Senior Nursing Officer in the hospital’s Emergency Ward.
His responsibilities included supervising the management of trauma cases, coordinating cardiac arrest resuscitation and mentoring student nurses.
His growing interest in critical care led him to undertake postgraduate training at Jos University Teaching Hospital.
He later joined Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital as a Senior Nursing Officer in the Intensive Care Unit, where he helped manage the five-bed ICU and trained nurses in critical care practice.
A Decade of Growth in the United Kingdom
In 2003, Ngala moved to London, where he expanded his clinical and leadership experience within the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.
He worked at University College Hospital, providing specialist nursing care to patients following cardiac bypass surgery and gaining experience in advanced life-support technologies, including continuous renal replacement therapy, intra-aortic balloon pumps and mechanical ventilation.
He later joined the London Chest Hospital as a Senior Charge Nurse, managing a nine-bed intensive care unit and working with multidisciplinary teams in the care of critically ill patients.
Ngala subsequently moved into hospital-wide administration as Clinical Site Manager at Homerton University Hospital, where his responsibilities included bed management, acute care coordination and emergency incident management.
Alongside his professional duties, he pursued further education, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in General Intensive Care Nursing from London South Bank University, a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Management from the University of Surrey, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from London South Bank University.
As part of leadership roles in Saudi Arabia,
Ngala later brought his clinical and management experience to Saudi Arabia, where he took on increasingly senior leadership positions.
At National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, he served as Clinical Nurse Coordinator for the Adult Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
From 2013 to 2016, he worked at the Armed Forces Hospital in the Southern Region as Head of Nursing and Nurse Manager, overseeing medical, surgical and cardiac intensive care units.
During this period, he introduced Lean 5S workplace improvement methods and supported the development of accredited leadership and critical care training programmes.
Between 2016 and 2018, he served as Assistant Director of Nursing for the Surgical and Specialised Division at Security Forces Hospital in Riyadh.
In the role, he oversaw about 300 staff across six specialised units, including the operating theatre and adult intensive care unit.
Driving Healthcare Transformation
Ngala’s career entered another phase when he joined King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam and later the Eastern Health Cluster.
As Director of Critical Care Nursing, he introduced the “IV Nurse Concept,” an initiative aimed at strengthening intravenous therapy practices and reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections among high-risk oncology and transplant patients.
He later rose to become Executive Director of Nursing and Acting Chief of Nursing Affairs.
During his leadership tenure, King Fahad Specialist Hospital received the 2019 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators Award for nursing quality.
The hospital also achieved Magnet recognition, becoming the first Saudi Ministry of Health hospital and the third hospital in the Kingdom to attain the internationally recognised nursing excellence accreditation.
From 2022 to 2025, Ngala served as Chief of Nursing Affairs for the Eastern Health Cluster, with responsibilities covering 22 hospitals and 145 primary healthcare centres.
In the position, he contributed to healthcare reforms aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, including the development of standardised nursing staffing frameworks across different specialties.
He also led a Transition of Care project designed to improve post-discharge patient outcomes. According to figures associated with the initiative, emergency department readmissions following discharge were reduced from 19 per cent to 4 per cent.
Leading Thousands of Nurses
In March 2025, Ngala was appointed Regional Director of Nursing for Armed Forces Hospitals in the Taif Western Region under Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence Healthcare System.
In his current role, he provides strategic and operational nursing leadership across five regional hospitals and works with five Directors of Nursing.
His responsibilities extend to more than 4,900 nurses working across acute care, mental health, primary healthcare and rehabilitation services.
Beyond his executive responsibilities, Ngala is a Certified Global Nurse Consultant and a holder of Saudi Arabia’s Premium Residency.
His journey—from the wards of hospitals in Kano to the leadership of large and complex healthcare systems abroad—reflects more than three decades of professional development in clinical nursing, critical care, education and healthcare administration.
For Kano and Nigeria, his career represents the growing contribution of Nigerian healthcare professionals to health systems beyond the country’s borders.
For the nursing profession, it is a story of how experience gained at home, combined with continuous education and international exposure, can open the way to global leadership.
Muhammad (Mr Gwani) writes from KHETFUND, Kano and can be reached via: nurseabubakarumar@gmail.com; 08069781041