The last six weeks of my stay in Saudi Arabia have begun

Yes, friends, I am leaving this job very soon. My final exit is approximately due in the last week of August or early days of September. As such, the last 5-6 weeks of my life here in Saudi Arabia have begun. I am definitely not going to be emotional about it, as my future beckons me strongly. The last three months have been filled with work, but outside work hours, I have had time to relax, to read, to watch movies and TV serials, to chat with friends and family, and to continue some element of study here and there. 

My acceptance of exit from this country was approved by the Ministry of Health, Directorate of Health Affairs in Taif a couple of weeks ago. Once that paper came, I became sure that I would leave as per my end of contract. I worked during the Eid period, thereby entitling me to an additional 4 days of holidays. To this, I added a further 26 days of holidays that lie in my balance for the current year. I have therefore obtained a vacation of a month (26 + 4 days). As my contract ends on the 3rd of October, I will be able to leave around the 3rd of September. 

I am not openly disclosing my plans for what I will do once I return to India. Perhaps I will try for a new job in another country, perhaps either the UAE or the UK. Let's see what happens. 

In the meantime, my family is doing fine, as is my mom, who, however, is now confined to her house, barring some social outings to her sons' (either my place or my brother's place) homes. I am growing impatient to meet them.

Back here, I keep experimenting with food. I made goat's legs (trotters) - once about 3 weeks ago, and then again, yesterday. I seem to have mastered the method of making them, as they turned out just fabulous on both occasions. Today, one of our ER residents, a Sudanese by the name of Dr. Asiya, brought a Sudanese preparation of fish curry. It was absolutely delicious. I had it with brown bread (khubz burr) in the afternoon. Life goes on ...

An unusual experience concerning medical care delivery

In the past few weeks, I had to accompany preterm, extremely small babies to transfer them to the Children's Hospital in Taif. The first such incident was event-free as the baby reached the hospital in reasonably good health and was handed over to the NICU in the proper way. 

The second such incident occurred a few nights back. This was a 28-week male child who was gasping at birth and needed active resuscitation for nearly 3 hours before the baby stabilised a bit to transfer to Taif. During these 3 hours, the baby needed to be given artificial breathing. The insertion of a tube into his airways needed the expertise of an anaesthetist not once, not twice, but up to 4 times. 

When we were en route to Taif, the child gradually deteriorated. By the time we reached the destination, unfortunately, we had almost lost the baby. The final end came after another hour when the resuscitating team at the Children's Hospital announced that the baby had died - about half an hour after the child had been received by them.

The incident was definitely very unfortunate and may depress the readers of this otherwise positive blog. The reason why I am actually including this incident in my blog is to make readers understand why working in a peripheral area with lack of facilities can cause such unfortunate outcomes. The distance from Al Muwayh to the Children's Hospital is nearly 200 km. The risk to an extremely sick child is indeed very high and even if the ambulance driver drives very fast at speeds of 160 kmph or more, it still takes nearly 2 hours to reach the NICU, because of city traffic. 

There are no easy answers to this, and the medical establishment all over the world is worried about such problems. In some rare circumstances, developed countries do transfer patients by air ... but this requires an infrastructure that is highly expensive to develop and very difficult to secure for a normal patient who is not a VIP or well-connected. 

I welcome comments. 

After Ramadan

Ramadan Eid was celebrated some days ago, and it was a relief to see the month pass. This is not just about the rigours of fasting. It is also about the changed duty timings, the unavailability of things in the market during several hours of the day, and also between Maghrib and Tarawi prayers, and some other minor inconveniences. 

During the days surrounding the Eid, we have what is known as the "murabta" - which is the compulsory duty period if you wish to get compensation in the form of either extra pay or extra days of vacation (you can choose one of the two). During these days, every staff member attends duties. In the ER it is not unusual to see 4, or even 5 doctors in one duty shift! Nurses are always available - except for the Saudi brothers, who disappear during the Eid days. It is a good time to socialise, to meet your friends in the hospital and to reflect. At the same time, the overcrowding with the absence of patients makes one realise that this is a system that does not work in the correct way. Why enforce attendance at a time when there are hardly any patients? I am still trying to get an answer to this question. 

One of the minor inconveniences is the unavailability of things in the markets for several days after the Eid. This is because suppliers send their stuff in trucks; and these truck drivers are on holiday! When I visited a supermarket today, I found the vegetable and fruit racks empty. The bakery shops are closed, as are the small snack bars (the buffiyas). There is no one to open the shop that sells water by the can for drinking and cooking purposes. In short, there is a pseudo-shortage of several items, because the locals have already hoarded up on these things before the Eid. And also because the workers are just not around. 

I expect that things will begin to improve by tomorrow, which is the 4th day after Eid. Ameen to that.

In other news, I am continuing my efforts to write a book on my MRCPCH journey. It would be my attempt to help future students to take these exams. My efforts are also on to search for a job either in the Emirates or in the UK - this must happen soon, as I am due to exit the Kingdom within the next few months. I have signed up for writing job tasks on a few web-sites - an attempt to test myself to do constructive work in my spare time. (Do check out http://www.freelancer.com if you are also interested - and not just for writing jobs.)

That's it for now. Thank you for reading. I will await your comments and constructive feedback. Eid Mubarak to my Muslim and non-Muslim friends. May your coming months be prosperous and peaceful.