We all need help sometimes | MSF in Pakistan

We all need help sometimes | MSF in Pakistan:

 One common mantra of MSF is ‘be flexible.’ Although you may be employed for one job, take it for granted that you will be called upon to do many other things as well. So despite being the ‘expat gynaecologist,’ I knew I would inevitably be called to the emergency room (ER). I had been briefed on what to do and how to behave, and what I would likely encounter.

When one of my colleagues had been called to support the ER, she had the grim task of deciding whether two unidentifiable victims of an IED (improvised explosive device) should be transported in body bags or a casket. Due to the state of the remains, she authorised the purchase of caskets. As a medical professional, I have had countless gruesome medical discussions over the dinner table over the years. My non-medical family and medical colleagues alike can attest to this fact. Family in particular have developed strong stomachs and the ability to quickly change the subject should details become too graphic. Yet the look in my colleague’s eye, and the way she described the bodies over the dinner table that night, allowed me to understand that she was remembering a sight that she was unlikely to forget for decades to come.