Surgeon

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.

MSF surgeon Francesco at work in Tabarre, Haiti

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

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

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

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

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

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