Meet the Dubai doctor who cures warzone children

Casualties of conflict zones often make it to page 1, but the selfless acts by health workers are often overlooked

"I have treated children - many barely two years old - who have seen things no child of their age should see. They have lived a life no child should have to live," recalls warzone surgeon, Dr Marc Sinclair.
During armed conflict emergencies, Dubai-based Sinclair travels overseas to treat the children left devastated in the aftermath. "Our charity has treated children in West Bank, Gaza, Georgia, Haiti and Turkish border to Syria," he tells Khaleej Times.
Jeopardising his own life to save that of the innocent victims of war, Sinclair's focus as a voluntary overseas doctor is firm.
"I want to give them back some of that innocence that has been stripped away by conflict, disease and natural disasters."
For doctors risking it all at the expense of saving others, many are left working in operation theatres strewn across live battlefields. And cheating death often comes second to making a difference to a child's life.
Although orthopaedic surgeon Sinclair does not work on the frontline, he does deal with the devastating after-effects of those who have lived amidst it. For eight years, he has volunteered at The Little Wings Foundation - a non-profit organisation, to provide medical assistance to children
with musculoskeletal deformities in the Mena region.
In the last 18 months, he has travelled to field hospitals in Gaza and Georgia to treat these young victims of war and poverty. Regularly performing orthopaedic surgeries in dimly lit hospital rooms, he says the  extreme nature of his work never gets easier.
Daily life as warzone doctor
On a typical working day on a mission, Dr Sinclair treats about four major cases in surgery. Entering the operation theatre around 8am, he usually downs tools 17 hours later at 1am. "The situations these children have been thrust into through no fault of their own are saddening. Their suffering always stays in your mind, that's why you power through," he says.
From high-energy projectiles to deep penetration of foreign material, and dirty field conditions, to ill-performed treatment at the time of injury, he has treated children as young as 18-months-old for war wounds you'd expect only men and women fighting in combat to receive. "After spending days on site, it really gets to you. Seeing a child live with a disability caused by war and living in such hardship is so tough on a child and family." But it is that "stress and pressure" that keeps him going, he says.
Statistics that shock
To date, the ongoing Syrian crisis has taken over 450,000 lives. In its wake, it has left hundreds of thousands of people handicapped, 6.5 million internally displaced and over four million fleeing to neighbouring countries.
For Dr Sinclair, getting medical treatment to those forgotten and left injured by war - specifically children - is vital. "This is an ongoing emergency."
Spending up to 10 days at a time in these often unstable countries, Dr Sinclair embarks on about "two to three missions a year". Though the emotional stress of the job is "always there", he says he never lets it permeate the forefront of his mind. "You can't get used to it, you will never get used to it. But this work brings you back to your roots."
During his eight years as a voluntary warzone doctor, many desperate for his help have reached out to him. Among them was the former First Lady of Georgia. "She explained how the country was lacking in infrastructure when it came to orthopaedic surgery, yet informed me they had many cases that needed to be treated. We are not solely limited to working in warzones."
Citing facts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Sinclair says "poverty and disability have a big link", which is why they focus their work in poverty-stricken or war-torn countries.
One of the biggest issues he faces is the lack of quality control in these countries. In many of the cases he treats, this has played a huge factor in the limitations faced by each child. "Although medical professionals and facilities in these poorer countries may mean well, many children are treated incorrectly."
He has seen children severely injured by bomb blasts live with avoidable permanent disabilities, and treated amputees where limb removal wasn't necessarily needed. "You cannot take away from the efforts of these local medical facilities, but the reality is, children continue to suffer because of unintended medical mistakes."
Where is the need?
In late 2015, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) ranked the UAE the second highest provider of cash assistance to Syrian refugees living in urban and rural areas of Jordan. It accounted for 27 per cent of the total $7.3m raised, globally, by the Lifeline Appeal Campaign.
However, Dr Sinclair says volunteer numbers lack in the region. "We need more doctors to volunteer for mission trips to treat these children. Aid is vital but feet on the ground is just as vital," he said.
- kelly@khaleejtimes.com
- @KellyAnn_Clarke

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