-
The Patient Who Taught Me to Care Twice
It was an ordinary day on duty in our dialysis centre. One of my regular patients had arrived for his usual hemodialysis session. I was quite close to him — I often joked with my patients, tried to make them smile. Dialysis can feel endless, and a little laughter lightens the hours. He usually came in with high blood pressure, so I always checked his BP before starting. But that day, the machine was not working. I told myself I would keep an eye on him instead, checking in frequently to see if he looked uncomfortable or showed any signs of hypertension. The session went smoothly at first. Everything seemed…
-
When Smoking Saved a Life
My first posting with Médecins Sans Frontières was in northern Uganda, not long after Idi Amin had been driven from power. For those who don’t know him: Amin was a brutal dictator whose eight-year rule left the country scarred by violence, fear, and neglect. His shadow still loomed large, and the hospital where I was sent — in Moyo, on the Sudanese border — was little more than a crumbling shell. We worked with what we had: simple operations, endless deliveries, and rows of sick children. There was no electricity, and my predecessor had left before I arrived, so I learned my patients by reading the thin paper charts clipped…