A week completed in Al Muwayh

After my return from Zalm, I have settled down in Al Muwayh and over a week later, I think it is time to take stock of where I am going with what I am doing. Ramadan started 7 days ago, and with it, we also began to work in 2 shifts - the morning one being from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the night one from 9.30 p.m. to 12.30 p.m. There are hardly any patients in the morning shift as people are usually fast asleep after being awake the whole night. I saw either no patients or up to 2 patients each of the morning days during the entire last week. In the night shift, though, it is work as usual, and patients keep coming until the last few minutes of the duty. 

A lot of road traffic accident victims have been coming in daily. This is quite usual, as a lot of people drive to Makkah and Madina in Ramadan to gather blessings from Allah. Most of the times, the victims are non-Saudis. I witnessed the arrival in the ER of one Pakistani family with the death of an old man, his son's wife and his son's daughter on the highway itself. Only the son has survived the accident, in which he was also the driver of the car going toward Makkah. May Allah grant these poor victims of road accidents a place in Jannah. Ameen.

Four new doctors, all from Sudan, have joined our ER. They include the very smart Dr. Abdulla, an equally smart Dra. Maria, one Dr. Badreddin and one Dra. Wefag. Of these, I have had many patient-related interactions with Maria, who is a resident of KSA as her family is already based here in the Kingdom. Wefag is the newest, having joined just a few days ago, and is right now undergoing orientation. Dr. Abdulla speaks very good English, is well-informed, and appears to be as smart as our ex-Dr. Amr Hilal. Let us see how these doctors shape up in the months to come.

Apart from my work, I have been spending time downloading and watching stuff on the laptop, watching Arnab Goswami go at everyone with his rabid tongue on Times Now, and doing a bit of cooking here and there. In the past week, I made a chicken curry once, Turai and chana dal once, and today, a potato gravy. Yesterday, I made a new item from a new ingredient. This was Molokhia soup. I must say it was easy to make, and it turned out good as well. Molokhia is a type of leafy vegetable that is eaten widely in Egypt and northern Africa. It is basically from the jute plant. Belonging to the same family as the humble okra (lady fingers), it is a mucilaginous plant that is eaten best with mild spices. Usually, it is made with lamb or chicken, but I made it with just one cube of Maggi chicken flavour. I had one bowl of it yesterday for dinner, and would be eating more of it tonight, with rice. You can see a very nice video on cooking molokhia here.

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this entry. You are welcome to browse previous entries and view photos from the links to other pages to the right of the blog. Feel free to comment below the entries, share my blog or specific entries with your friends on different social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus buttons are located below each entry).

Zalm vs. Al Muwayh

I have been asked this question by the administration in both the villages, as they have some sort of friendly rivalry between these two medical centers which are located within 50 km of each other in the vast expanse of central Saudi Arabia; I have been asked this question by the doctors and nurses in both places, who tend to weigh the benefits of each place against their disadvantages; I have been asked this question by my friends off-line and on-line: by reading my blogs, they are moved to ask me which place is better; and finally, I ask MYSELF this question each time I do a duty stint at Zalm. Which place is better?

Let me try and analyse this question: first of all, there cannot be a blanket answer. We have to consider many aspects of life before we come to any sensible conclusion. The obvious positives of living in Zalm are: lighter OPDs and admissions; stay in the hospital-provided accommodation with free meals and water all through the 24 hours; and, a cleaner, newer, better-designed hospital with an energetic administrator who is willing to spend to make the facility better (this is not just my opinion, but an opinion that resonates with many people both in Zalm and in Al Muwayh). 

On the other hand, Al Muwayh has a more lively atmosphere in the evenings; the people are familiar; my house is here, whatever be its advantages or disadvantages; I can cook my own food - a definite advantage, as I could not stomach the canteen food in Zalm that was being dished out to me every day; a hospital whose people I am friendly and comfortable with; and its proximity to Taif (Zalm is a further 50 km away from Taif, if you are looking at distances).

The disadvantages of Zalm: it is a much smaller and ill-equipped village; there is no garden or green space anywhere; no Indian restaurant serving south Indian dishes; it has a much hotter weather on a day-to-day basis throughout the year ... and not just that, it is dustier, with the hot wind swirling the desert sands all out on the roads, under the doors, inside ones' rooms and so on; the roads are not well-lit in the evenings and nights; the room rents for someone who is settling there are much higher; and the restaurants and the bank are quite far from the hospital, so that it is a lot more inconvenient.

The disadvantages of Al Muwayh: none, within the confines of what we are talking about. There are two large pharmacies, two south-Indian restaurants, four Pakistani restaurants (all on the highway, of course) and a lot of Saudi and Yemeni joints with a limited but tasty repertoire of chicken and rice.

The conclusion: Al Muwayh scores above Zalm in many respects. I would rate the living experience a lot better here than in Zalm.

My 4th Ramadan in Saudi Arabia

A very Happy and Pious Ramadan to all my readers.

Well, things didn't go exactly according to my earlier plans, did they? I was rather hoping to exit last year, but decided to renew my contract as I did not have a clear direction for a new job or my MRCPCH at that time. Now, the time is approaching when my fourth year will also be ending ... inshallah. Ramadan has begun here today. With this, our hospital duty timings have also changed from a single duty in the day-time, to a split of morning (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and night (9.30 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.) ... and as I write this, I am preparing to go for my first of such night duties. 

A few things that I did after returning to Al Muwayh yesterday: I purchased some provisions and food items in preparation to start cooking my own food after a long gap. Today, I began this by making chana dal with turai (in English, that is chick-pea lentils with ridge gourd). The food came out delicious! 

I also bought a used TV set and set up my cable to re-start. I am just watching TIMES NOW after a long gap of over three months (although I did watch it sometimes when I was in India). 

I am hoping to get back my internet DSL connection into my house ... currently, it is with someone else, who used it for over 2 months while I was in India. Once this comes, I will have fast, unlimited internet back as well!

Finally, it looks as though I am returning to my old life here in KSA. There are a few restrictions, though. As I will be working alone, I will be unable to take leave and vacations in between - something that I have been doing the whole of last year with the arrival of Dr. Afzal (he left for his annual vacation a few days ago). Secondly, I have no car, as I sold mine before leaving KSA on my last emergency holiday. I have hired a car-taxi guy, a Sudanese by the name of Mr. Hasan. He will ferry me back and forth to and from the hospital every day for a princely sum of SR 300 per month. He has also agreed to offer his services for night and weekend emergency calls at no extra cost! Isn't that marvellous? Lastly, I am going to be unable to visit Taif to replenish my dwindling larder ... hence, on my last visit there a few days ago, I brought back as much as was possible so that there is no shortage of food and related items.