Surgeon

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Isabel Corthier/MSF

Fieldset

Surgeon

From emergency caesarean sections to war surgery, MSF surgeons provide life-saving treatment.

In addition to saving lives, they also performing operations that are life-changing. These include highly technical operations on patients disfigured by noma, or reparative surgeries on women living with a fistula.

The work is incredibly varied, as are the settings, which can be anything from a temporary tented facility through to a modern hospital.

Read the blog posts below to find out more about life as an MSF doctor, or click here to find out more about applying to join the team.

Jennifer Tong

Surgeon

Gaza: Helping Sunny Boy walk again

Jennifer Tong, an Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) surgeon from Hong Kong, shares the story of Sunny Boy – a young Palestinian she helped recover from a gunshot wound.

17 Jan 2019 / 4 minute read

Heidi Wikstrom

Surgeon

Surgery in Agok: Some patients you remember forever

Some patients you remember forever. Heidi shares this emotional blog from the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Agok, which lies in a special administrative area between Sudan and South Sudan.

18 Aug 2018 / 4 minute read

Martin Kašpar

Surgeon

Why I’ll never forget my first day as a surgeon in Iraq

Martin Kašpar is a Czech surgeon currently on his first assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the city of al Qayyarah, Iraq. In this blog, he writes about his dramatic first day, treating young patients involved in tragic incidents.

17 Aug 2018 / 5 minute read

Heidi Wikstrom

Surgeon

“Her life is going to be totally different from what she must have hoped for”

Heidi Wikström is a Finnish surgeon currently on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the Abyei Special Administrative Area – a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan – where MSF operates the area’s only secondary healthcare facility. In this heartbreaking blog, she shares the story of a young mother’s life-changing surgery.

12 Jul 2018 / 3 minute read

Heidi Wikstrom

Surgeon

“I hope, someday, she can hold a newborn baby against her heart”

26 Jun 2018 / 3 minute read

Akin Chan

Surgeon

“I promised to save his son”: An MSF surgeon returns to Syria

Akin writes about his emotional return to the country he fell in love with – including his fight to save the lives of two young boys.

16 Jun 2018 / 7 minute read

Mukul Singhal

Surgeon

Zehra’s story: "Her smile can light up the entire hospital"

Orthopaedic surgeon Mukul Singhal recently returned from Jordan, where MSF provides medical and psychological care to war-wounded patients from Syria. He tells the story of an inspiring young patient and her family...

19 Jan 2018 / 3 minute read

Shannon Chan

Surgeon

Innovation: Keeping it local

Innovation can mean finding high-tech solutions. But not always. Earlier this year surgeon Shannon Chan travelled to Bor in South Sudan, where she discovered that you can achieve a lot with local materials and a little ingenuity...

02 Nov 2017 / 5 minute read

Tomas Sebek

Surgeon

Surgery in South Sudan: Facing death

Surgeon Tomas blogs about an emergency surgery on an eighteen year old girl in South Sudan.

14 Jun 2017 / 8 minute read

Tomas Sebek

Surgeon

Surgery in South Sudan: the bald surgeon

Tomas discusses surgeries, head shaving and landmines his account of a normal day in South Sudan.

08 Jun 2017 / 7 minute read

Tomas Sebek

Surgeon

Surgery in South Sudan: Let's not confuse the baby's back with its bottom...

Surgeon Tomas operates on various patients, including a a child needing a gastrostomy, a boy with a broken leg and delivers a baby.

31 May 2017 / 6 minute read

Hella Hultin

Surgeon

Yemen: Goodbye little girl, goodbye Yemen

Hella Hultin is a surgeon from Sweden. She has recently returned from her assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Khameer, Yemen. Here she blogs about her final day on assignment, and a tiny patient who is close to her heart.

27 Apr 2017 / 2 minute read