A dispatch from Mosul

The healthcare infrastructure in Mosul (Iraq’s 2nd largest city) was completely destroyed by ISIS and as the city had been held under siege for over three years, hundreds of thousands of civilians had suffered immensely.

From the day of arriving at the trauma field hospital, I was working within a dynamic team providing trauma care for patients who had sustained life and limb threatening injuries whilst trying to flee the conflict in Mosul.

The set up of the hospital was unique in that it was staffed by a combination of experienced international expatriate staff as well as senior experienced local Iraqi clinicians. This resulted in a unique partnership that ensured access and availability of a high quality of medical care for those that were fleeing the violence in Mosul, as well as an opportunity for capacity building and strengthening international cooperation in the health sector in the region. This was all made possible by the implementing partner organisations on the project who have significant expertise working in the humanitarian sector in often challenging or hostile environments.

As part of my preparation for this deployment, I attended the Surgical Training for the Austere Environment (STAE) course at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
This was a 5 day course that was directed by David Nott and his foundation. On the course, I was taught how to make challenging surgical decisions in the management of acute trauma patients in the resource poor environment in order to minimise the loss of life and limb.

I was also fortunate to be able to network with like minded trauma surgeons that had travelled from at least 4 continents as either participants or faculty to be part of this course.

Sharing experiences on the front lines enriched the experience on the course and it was indeed as a direct result of networking on the course that I was able to take the opportunity in Iraq which allowed me to put the skills I had learned into practice just a few months later.

Both the course and the clinical experience were unique, as the type of injuries and clinical decisions that need to be made are not those usually experienced by clinicians in developed health systems such as the one I work in the UK. All of this would not have been possible without the support that I received from the David Nott Foundation to attend the STAE course and I encourage those that have an interest to apply to the David Nott foundation.’

Dr Moez Zeiton was supported by the David Nott Foundation through a bursary for undertaking the Surgical Training for Austere Environments (STAE) course at the Royal College of Surgeons in February, 2017.