'I have to be detached even though am so overwhelmed by the disaster'

"As a doctor, I have to keep my emotions away from work because I can get sucked into them." Dr Jad S., orthopaedic surgeon

"I cannot tell a pretty young girl with her lower limbs blown to shreds that she cannot walk again," says UAE-based orthopaedic surgeon Dr Jad S., who offers his services in war-torn areas, including Syria.
"Because if I, as a doctor, do that, she will lose hope. She will crumble. So I tell her that medicine has developed radically and she can be fit with prosthetics and walk again," he says while speaking to Khaleej Times.
"Inwardly, I am wincing but there is so much suffering around me in this warzone, that as a doctor, I have to be detached even though I am so overwhelmed by the disaster.
"And yes, the scale of the disaster is so big that I sometimes cry due to the pain."
Dr Jad volunteers for the International Organisation Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UoSSMs). The disaster in Syria is so big that you can't just close the door, he says.
Dr Jad says though he has left Syria physically, he is still connected mentally to the ongoing situation there.
Currently, he visits Syria every two months for a week and offers logistic support to other doctors as well.
"As a doctor, I have to keep my emotions away from work because I can get sucked into them."
Dr Jad seeks emotional support from his wife who also volunteers to help those affected by war.
"We offer moral support to each other before we start losing hope ourselves."
Depending on the ground situation, Dr Jad may have to see up to 10 cases per day, sometimes two including children injured by bombs or are suffering from a chlorine attack.
But however much a professional doctor tries to stay detached, emotions will catch up with a human being sooner or later.
Losing a much-loved colleague and friend recently has left this
indelible mark on Dr Jad.
"Dr Hassan was the architect of a $1 million underground hospital which we were using to treat so many patients but in April this year, an anti-bunker missile hit the hospital and killed Hassan who was just 18 metres away," says Dr Jad.
Besides dealing with the injured and dead, doctors have to deal with lost and broken equipment too and work with the minimum they have, points out Dr Jad.
- asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
- @asmaalizain

• UAE
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