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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.

Carlo Brugiotti
Carlo Brugiotti
Surgeon
Responding to the injured in Jerusalem: “The patients kept on coming like waves”
On Friday, 15 April 2022, Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem and injured over 150 Palestinians, including children. Carlo Brugiotti, a trauma surgeon with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, was part of the medical team that assessed and stabilised the injured. Here, he reflects on what he saw that day.
16 May 2022 / 4 minute read
Dr Karry Jose Felix
Karry Jose Felix
Surgeon
Haiti: An assignment like no other
A fuel truck explodes. Dozens are injured or killed. MSF surgeon Karry Jose Felix explains how a dedicated medical team assembled to save lives in a country where a weak healthcare system and political and economic instability made the consequences of the explosion even more urgent...
26 Apr 2022 / 3 minute read
Abubakar and the team at work in the operating theatre
Dr Muhammad Lawal Abubakar
Muhammad Lawal Abubakar
Surgeon
Noma in Nigeria: Ado and Ifeoma's stories
Three times a year, a team of surgical experts gather in the Nigerian city of Sokoto. They're there to perform life-changing operations for people affected by noma, a gangrenous disease which affects the face and jaw. Dr Muhammad Lawal Abubakar is part of the team...
18 Apr 2022 / 6 minute read
MSF surgeon Francesco at work in Tabarre, Haiti
Francesco Virdis - MSF trauma surgeon
Francesco Virdis
Surgeon
Breaking down the wall: Trauma surgery in Haiti
London-based surgeon Francesco Virdis shares his humbling and human experience after an intense assignment in Tabarre, Haiti
08 Jan 2021 / 6 minute read
Emergency surgery at Al Salakhanah hospital in Yemen
Heidi Wikstrom MSF
Heidi Wikstrom
Surgeon
Yemen: Good complaints
After a patient makes an astonishing recovery, Finnish surgeon Heidi reflects on the wider problem of providing medical care in places where resources are limited
16 Sep 2019 / 3 minute read
Heidi outside the MSF health centre in Yemen
Heidi Wikstrom MSF
Heidi Wikstrom
Surgeon
Yemen: A dangerous diagnosis
Finnish surgeon Heidi Wikstrom has just arrived in Yemen, where an unexpected diagnosis could have a wider impact in the community
30 Aug 2019 / 5 minute read
Amina, an 18-year-old noma patient from Yobe state
Hafiz Muhammed - MSF
Hafiz Muhammed
Surgeon
Noma in Nigeria: "The resilience of our patients is astounding"
Noma is an overlooked but dangerous disease that can leave often young patients disfigured. Hafiz, a surgeon from India, shares his experience of providing life-changing reconstructive surgery in Nigeria...
21 May 2019 / 5 minute read
Jennifer Tong operating on a patient in Gaza
Jennifer Tong MSF
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 MSF
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 MSF
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
The empty operating theatre in Agok
Heidi Wikstrom MSF
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 at work in the operating theatre
Heidi Wikstrom MSF
Heidi Wikstrom
Surgeon
“I hope, someday, she can hold a newborn baby against her heart”
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. 
26 Jun 2018 / 3 minute read
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