Reflection

My Purpose in Life: A Surgical Vocation

As I count down to match day, I can't help taking myself back a couple of years. My 2006 christmas present was unusual. Something that the giver never intended for it to be christmas present, something you won't think of when you hear of a christmas present. It was an acceptance letter from the University of Maryland School Of Medicine - at that point, I knew that my life's goal of becoming a doctor was finally being realized. A goal which was set up as young as the tender age of 15 when I underwent an appendectomy. I knew that attaining my goal in life was going to allow me to pursue my purpose in life - which I truly believe that, among others, it is serving mankind especially those who are not priviledge to get medical attention whenever they want to. Those who do not have the priviledge of receiving emergency surgical care with no question or money asked upfront; those who might go to the hospital and spend the entire day seating on a bench infront of a surgeon's office yet, unable to be seen and has to come back the following day only if they are able to see the next daylight. Those who are either butchered or killed carelessly on a "surgeon's" operating table because of anesthesia overdose (may Tabezeng Derick RIP) yet, these so called physicians are never held accountable for their action. Those who are at the mercy of physicians who are not specifically trained to be surgeons yet carry out operations after observing and doing few cases. But what can these poor people do? They do not have any choice but to literally adore anyone with the title of a physician who accepts and claims that they could carry out surgery in order to cure them of their ailments. Some of these folks have been diagnosed of cancer but can't afford the very high cost of a surgical oncologist in one of the very few specialized medical centers of the country. How can I not feel for them when I know first hand how miserable I was when I was writhing in pain on that fateful morning when I presented to the hospital with appendicitis. Heck, yes! I would have crawled towards anyone who told me that they were a doctor and could operate on me to cure me. How can I forget those deep in the villages such as Lewoh village who don't even have a medical doctor in their only health care center. A nurse attends to them and prescribes meds for them. Can you imagine someone walking around for years with an umbilical or abdominal wall hernia and has considered it to become an acceptable part of his/herself? I mean, these are not folks who are sedentary, these are folks who would get up as early as 3am and trek by foot for miles upon miles to go do manual labor on their farms - can you imagine how anyone does this with a frank hernia??? the high intra-abdominal pressure during such labor only aggravates it!

This is just a glimpse into the life of my people in Cameroon. The lives of the underserved who are actually the majority of the population; the lives of a people whose healthcare system is really set up to serve the very rich and those who can easily afford healthcare while those who can not pay before any treatment, including most emergencies, are doomed to suffer! Where the common man hardly ever has access to well trained General or sub-specialized surgeons.

As an example, the World Health Orgnanization (WHO) had the five leading cause of death projected for 2005 as

1-Communicable, maternal, perinatal, nutritional conditions: # of deaths --> 154,870
2-Cardiovascular diseases: # of deaths -->31,180
3-Other Chronic Diseases: # of deaths -->21,539
4-Injuries: # of deaths -->16,885
5-Malignant neoplasms: # of deaths --> 12,259

and the projection for 2030 as follows:
1-Communicable, maternal, perinatal, nutritional conditions: # of deaths --> 164,278
2-Cardiovascular diseases: # of deaths -->47,106
3-Other Chronic Diseases: # of deaths -->32,643
4-Injuries: # of deaths --> 25,644
5- Malignant neoplasms: # of deaths --> 22,023

Check out the original stats: https://apps.who.int/infobase/report.aspx?rid=153&iso=CMR&generateResults=Generate+Report
I'll focus on malignancy (b/c it's an area of interest to me). It is the 5th leading cause of death and by 2030, deaths would have increased by a staggering 80%. Implication: Those people who can be saved by surgery w/ a combination of chemo should be saved. Only if some of these poor patients had access to surgical oncologist, the situation will mostly likely be different. Primary care is surely an issue but not much of an issue as surgical. With my surgical training, I plan on having an impact together with some of my colleagues. By the way, I think a missionary organization The Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) is doing a wonderful job in training African doctors to become surgeons.

So this sheds some light as to why that acceptance into med school was a special but unusual Christmas gift. That which money couldn't buy.