Dr. Ali Zatriqi was born in Novi Pazar, on April 11, 1929. He completed primary school in Gjakovë and continued high school in Pristina. In 1948, he completed pilot school at the Federal Pilot Class, Rome. In 1952, Ali Zatriqi enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, which he completed in 1960. In 1966, he specialized in the Surgery Clinic at the University of Belgrade. During that time he was the Head of the Department of Surgery in Novi Pazar. In 1974, he continued with postgraduate studies at Columbia University, New York, USA. Then in 1977, he defended his doctoral thesis in Belgrade, in which case he was chosen as a docent for the subject of General Surgery for teaching in the Albanian language.
In 1971, he was accepted as an Assistant at the University of Pristina and continued working in the Department of Surgery, and then at the Clinic of Surgery, KKUK in Pristina. In 1983 he was elected Associate Professor, while in 1987 he was elected Professor. As a professional surgeon in Kosova, he first started dealing with Oncology and Immunology. Among other things, he formed the Ward, the Ambulance, and the Oncology-Immunology Laboratory, the only one in the region, near the Clinic of Surgery and Orthopedics. In 1977, with his ideas, he created the conditions for tissue and organ transplantation.
Under his leadership, the Kosova Organization for the Fight Against Cancer was formed in 1978, where, among other things, he organized many activities for awareness and protection, and prevention of oncological diseases. His primary ideal was the establishment of the Department of Oncology, which he accomplished. From 1979 to 1983 he was a member of the Executive Council of the Association of Oncologists.
He worked for the reopening of the Faculty of Medicine, together with the Rectorate of the University of Pristina. His Ordinance also served as an educational institution at the time of the closure of the Faculty of Medicine, where many students gave the practical and theoretical part of the examination of Combat and General and Special Surgery.
He left the book of Combat Surgery, General and Special Surgery, with about 1500 pages, which was not published at the time due to subjective problems. As a connoisseur of foreign languages, he published 200 scientific papers in English, French, Serbian, and Russian. He has been a member of many national and international associations, cited in the literature by various authors of the time, and also present in the register of state scientists. He was the organizer of sending surgical teams and active participant in providing medical and surgical aid to KLA (Kosova Liberation Army) soldiers and the civilian population.
When the conditions were created for the opening of the Faculty of Medicine and the Clinic of Surgery, Zatriqi served as the Director of Surgery, but from this position, he was forcibly removed by the Serbian regime in 1989 and then retired from work.
Dr. Ali Zatriqi died on July 21, 2009, in Pristina.