N.B Since this month was the conclusion of my 10 years in medicine career (2012-2022) ,
this article is highlights personal struggles and emotions that influence one’s journey to becoming a doctor. I trust that you could gain some insights from this experience and implement it in your life to build a successful medical journey.
I was born and raised Borama, the provincial
Capital of Awdal Region, where also I acquired my elementary education.
‘There is no such noble profession as a
doctor’s profession’ said my father, when I was a kid. That word inspired me to
choose medical profession. When I started my high school I focused one goal
‘how can this experience help me to become doctor?
After finishing high school I was admitted to
the most prestigious University in Somalia Amoud University, As fresh year I
studied day and night for the formidable medical school entrance. I felt myself
blessed to pass the exam and being for the first top 10 students in all 1,000
fresh year students. My happiest day was result day.
I have my life planned out, I want to be
doctor, I know I need to work hard to get it that stage. My father said to me
that day ‘you don’t need to be smart to become doctor but you need to work
hard’. Our parents have done a lot for us and they want us to do better than
they did when they were young. My biggest motivation is to make them happy.
Being the first doctor of my family,
everybody has high hopes of me.
I devoted all my heart, mind and strength in
to medicine. Everyone who has been through this stage knows the immense
pressure you face. It was even harder for me as being a doctor was just not
what I had imagined myself to be. I put my heart and soul in to it like any
other student who aimed to become a doctor.
Studying undergraduate medicine is just as
difficult as I thought it would be, if not more difficult but I love the
challenge. I think that is a true battle of perseverance and hard work but I
absolutely love that I am learning something every day. It is a never ending
learning experience that keeps me on my toes and in awe of the miracle that is
the inner working of the human body.
The clock is ticking, 7 years have already
passed now is the time to take the OSCE exam. This is one
of Somalia's most demanding tests. Kings
College London created and administered this test. The
person who took the test was well aware that it was nerve-wracking.
Alhamdulilah In the end, God blessed me and I was ranked among the top three physicians in my batch.
It was another great joy for me and holding my medical degree was biggest achievement in my lifespan.
After 2 weeks of break I started working BRH as physician where I had received my training as medical student. I was working as a orthopedic assistant doctor and after 3 months I started my internship program. It was another pleasure to work alongside with my attendant doctors and my seniors.
Growing up Somalia where health care is limited, instilled in me core values of compassion, trustworthiness and citizenship, these three values guide me every day and will continue to guide me my career in medicine.
As physician, my compassion guided me to
become provider who cares for more than just the physical wellbeing of my
patients. I also committed myself to my patients’ emotional, spiritual and
social well-being and make it a priority to take in to account the unique
values of beliefs of each patient.
By also demonstrating my trustworthiness
during every encounter, I developed strong interpersonal relationships with
those whom I served as doctor once wisely said ‘ a patient doesn’t care how
much you know until he knows how much you care’.
My citizenship guided me to serve my
community.
Gobolka Sanaag oo aan ka shaqo bilaabay mid ka mida isbitaalada ugu waawayn
In language, though Somalia have different accents there was no big amount subtle differences, there is beauty in Somalia who loved and help each other
Environmentally, the sanaag region differs
from the awdal region. Sanaag is recognized for its pastoralist, whilst Awdal
is more commonly used for farming, production system in the areas of sanaag
involve greater livestock mobility and rely more heavily on camels and mixed
herds.
The Somali civil war resulted in considerable
loss of human life and destruction of local infrastructure and government
services through out the country. Health system is one of the areas affected by
the country’s collapse.
Despite the fact that all of these issues are shared by all other regions of the country but I've seen some incredible things in the two years I've been working on it which is includes; Almost one out of 10 children is estimated to die before their first birthday. The leading causes of infant mortality are illnesses like neonatal disorders, pneumonia and diarrhea. Women die due to pregnancy related causes, only 9 % have access to an SBA(skilled birth attendant) during childbirth and the service of maternal and reproductive health care is very low.
This
together with low access to maternal health care, family planning, skilled
birth attendance and high fertility rates put the women at a high risk of mortality and morbidity
related to pregnancy and childbirth. Empirical evidence has shown that
antenatal care services play an important role in improving maternal and
newborn health outcomes.
In general, health services are weekly managed at
all levels. Moreover, existing health services mainly concentrate in towns, and
planning the services is difficult due to the lack of reliable health-related data
and its analysis. Planning the health services as well as their regulation is
also difficult due to privatization of the health sector and fragmentation of
services. Lack of regulation is a severe problem: Health care staff is often
unqualified; anyone may open a pharmacy or a health care facility; quality of
medicines is unpredictable; and medicines such as antibiotics or
psycho-pharmacies are freely available.
Somali traditional medicine is practiced by “traditional doctors” who are usually older men of the community who have learned their skills from older family members. They are especially adept at treating hepatitis, measles, mumps, chicken pox, hunch-back, facial droop, and broken bones. Modalities used include, fire-burning, herbal remedies, casting, and prayer.
Fire-burning is a procedure where a stick from a special tree is heated till it glows and then applied to the skin in order to cure the illness. It is commonly used for hepatitis (identified as when the eyes, skin, and nails turn yellow and the urine turns dark), where the heated stick is applied once to each wrist and 4 times to the abdomen. It is also commonly used for malnutrition (marasmus); when the head seems to be large out of proportion with the body, the heated stick is applied to the head in order to reduce the head size.
I’ve put a lot of efforts for in to improving health care service in that area, during working at one of the largest referral hospitals in Sanaag I have treated and consulted more than 10,000 patients, I have also done hundreds of minor surgeries.
I’ve put a lot of efforts for in to improving health
care service in that area, during working at one of the largest referral
hospitals in Sanaag I have treated and consulted more than 10,000 patients, I
have also done hundreds of minor surgeries.
I have also participated major training courses to improve my skills in medicine, I’ve traveled to several location to treat patients and offer free health campaign particularly in resource limited and low-income communities. I’ve trained health professional especially nurse and midwife.
Last I Know that I am doing great, but I know I should work on my self more, so I can change the health system.
1 Comments
Weldone, Dr Abdirahman. Keep up the good work.
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