Dr Daniel Madit Thon Duop
speaks to patients in Juba, Sudan
Photo credit: Samaritan's
Purse Canada |
After spending a year training
in Calgary's state-of-the-art medical centres, Sudan's
healthcare system was always going to be a bit of a
shock to the system. Even for a physician from there.
OVERDUE
HOMECOMING
A year ago, the National Review of Medicine brought
you the story of 15 Cuban-trained Sudanese physicians
who were taking a refresher course at University of
Calgary to prepare them to practise medicine in their
homeland (see "Sudanese
docs earn spurs," April 15, 2006, Vol 3, No 7,).
Many had been working at a meat-packing plant before
a charity called Samaritan's Purse joined forces with
U of C to launch the tailor-made Sudanese Physician
Reintegration Program, which brought the docs back up
to speed after more than four years away from medicine.
Last October the physicians completed
their upgrading and flew to neighbouring Kenya, where
they'll spend a year completing their residency.
They quickly realized they've got
their work cut out for them. While on a visit to Juba,
the capital of Southern Sudan (southeast of the war-torn
Darfur region), they toured the Juba Teaching Hospital
and the Sabaha Children's Hospital. Dr Daniel Madit
Thon Duop says he was shocked at what he saw. "Unimaginable!"
he exclaims. "And these are the best hospitals in Southern
Sudan. At the police hospital, I cannot describe what
we found, especially in the ob/gyn department."
SITUATION
CRITICAL
Physicians are desperately needed in the region. Recent
statistics show that Southern Sudan's population of
10 million people is served by just 21 specialists,
24 general practitioners (seven of whom are military),
51 nurse midwives, 1 public health nurse and 592 certificate
nurses. The 720 village midwives and 300 nurse trainees
cannot provide adequate maternal and reproductive health
services.
Twenty three years of civil war
(the same war that sent Dr Thon Duop and the others
to study in Cuba) has created other challenges for the
returning physicians. Sudanese kids and their families
have been in a destructive cycle of poverty, lack of
education and disease since the 80s. They regularly
suffer and die from diseases like malaria, respiratory
tract infections, tuberculosis, meningitis, diarrhea,
malnutrition and gestational anemia that richer countries
like Canada have virtually eliminated.
Ironically, until recently Sudan's
civil war protected it from Africa's scourge: HIV/AIDS.
But with the return of Sudanese refugees and traders
from neighbouring nations, local health workers believe
the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is now very high. These are
tough odds.
Members of the Sudanese
Physician Reintegration Program pose in Calgary
shortly before setting off for Nairobi
Photo: courtesy of University
of Calgary |
Although returning 15 physicians
to the area seems like a drop in the bucket, Dr Thon
Duop is enthusiastic. "After I finish in Kenya, I will
immediately start improving the health situation of
my people, wherever I'm assigned," he vows. "That's
why I'm here and I will put my mind and my soul to it.
Saving the lives of 15 children a day from malaria will
be a great achievement — but the most important
thing we bring is hope."
Dr Thon Duop will remain in Kenya
until October 2007. He and his colleagues are putting
their training to good use. Some have performed over
40 caesareans in less than three months; others are
working in surgery, internal medicine and general practice.
Shocked as he was by the conditions
in Juba, Dr Thon Duop says things aren't much better
in Nairobi. He's particularly upset at the number of
patients with HIV/AIDS admitted every week in hospitals
there. "Whatever happens," he says, "I hope to be a
good doctor to my people and serve them with love, dedication,
patience, and lots of determination and sacrifice."
SUDAN,
MY HOME
The journey home has been an emotional end to a long,
hard exodus.
Getting to know family members
again after a separation of 23 years proved traumatic
and joyful. He remembers, "My brother, Ruot, was seven
years old when I left, but in front of me was a 29-year-old
man. I started to place his 'current' face with some
of our few happy childhood memories. Then I began to
truly recognize my brother and I cried."
Reconnecting with his nation was
also an emotional experience. "When I first saw the
Nile up close, I felt very happy," he recalls. "In Juba,
the first thing I did was kiss my beautiful soil."
Soon after their arrival, Dr Thon
Duop and the other doctors made a pilgrimage to visit
the grave of the man whose vision originally sent them
to Cuba: the late John Garang de Mabior. He died in
a suspicious helicopter crash last year three weeks
after being sworn in as First Vice President of the
Republic of Sudan and President of the Government of
Southern Sudan. Dr Thon Duop admires the man he says
was a crusader for democracy.
Happy as he is to be home, Dr Thon
Duop will never forget his six years in Canada —
although he never planned to stay. "All the Sudanese
physicians owe infinite gratitude to Samaritan's Purse
Canada," he says. "Without them, I wouldn't be here
in Africa and our mission would still be a very distant
dream."
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