- 5 months ago
- #thefutureisfemale
On this episode of #TheFutureIsFemale Melisa Idris speaks with Dr Siti Sainira Saidin, anaesthetist and member of MERCY Malaysia’s SCT 5 mission, who spent 30 days in Gaza recently.
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00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to The Future is Female. This is the show where we
00:16find the extraordinary in every woman. I'm delighted to introduce my guest today, Dr. Siti
00:22Saimera Saiden, who is an anesthetist. She was part of Mercy Malaysia's mission to Gaza. She was
00:29part of the fifth specialized care team that was deployed to Gaza recently and she's here today to
00:35share her experiences with us. Welcome to the show. Thank you Melissa for having me today. Before we
00:41get into Gaza and the mission, I just wanted to maybe get a sense of the background, your work
00:48in anesthesiology. I've heard it described before as invisible work because the patients don't really
00:55remember you. You're not really there kind of on the front facing with the patients but you hold
01:03their lives in your hands essentially. Can I ask you what drew you to the field of anesthesiology and
01:11you've been in the field for how many years now? What's kept you there? I've been in healthcare
01:16service for almost 17 years. I started my career in Johor as a housemanship and after that I did my MO ship
01:30in Johor as well. From housemanship, we get to see our consultants and our senior doctors working,
01:39doing their job in the wards, in the operation theater, in ICU, in emergencies. So when I first start my career as the young kid,
01:53I always find that I am pretty enticed and my focus is more in an ill patient. So when there is a difficult
02:08cases, I always get myself drew to it and really... You like the tough cases? Somehow, like by nature, it's not that I pick on it,
02:21it's just that I'm too attracted to it. Once I get involved, I can't stop until the patient get better. Somehow, I think that nature and
02:38instinct in me make me pay more attention to senior doctors and consultants who work hard on those cases.
02:48Right. So, and with that, senior doctors and consultants will slowly guide you to put you in which field of the hospital
03:04that is suitable for that doctor. Okay. One thing that I can't deny our healthcare system, I would say we work as family. The senior doctors
03:16will guide those who are very enthusiastic in what they do and put them in the correct field that is suitable for their skill, their interest.
03:29Why do you think anesthesiology is suitable for your, for who you are as a person?
03:34I think by nature, I'm a problem solver like that. But this is a field that requires a really calm, level head in the most critical moments.
03:48Yes. But it also requires precision, precision decision making. True. Because you can't just agak-agak. You can't just try, test it.
03:57An area. Yeah, nothing like that. The thing with, I think by, that is by nature as well. I remember one of my boss, one of my consultant, when I asked his opinion,
04:12before I sent my application to become a specialist in anesthesia, I asked him,
04:22boss, do you think I have what it takes to be anesthetist like you? And then he said, I think you have the, the, the, the, the criteria or the basic on how to be,
04:41to be, to, to be in that field, which is anesthesia or critical area field. And I said, what is it? Then he said, when there is crisis, you never panic.
04:58You stay calm, which is, that is the gist of, of any consultant in a critical area of service. That includes operation theater, ICU and emergency department.
05:15So what drew you or how, how did your involvement with Mercy Malaysia first begin?
05:21When I was in, from, from the early age of my life, I've always been inspired and really, really awed by people who make themselves go to difficult places where other people cannot go to,
05:50to, to offer help, you see. Since, since our childhood time, we have seen war happen many times. So when I see NGO here and there on TV, they always inspired me.
06:09By, by, by nature and instinct as well, when Gaza happened, I think that they, it opened up the whole world's eyes. It unfolds the truth of Gaza's trip to a, to a, to a, to a level that,
06:38that history never achieved before. At every level of generation, kindergarten kid, pre-kindy kid, primary school, regardless of, in any country, teenagers, university kids.
07:00Everyone, yeah.
07:01Masha'Allah. They, they, they, they are aware, they are learned by what Gaza Strip is. If you, if a layman who is not involved in healthcare service, have that awareness, can you imagine those who is in the healthcare service, who have the skill? As for me, I work with kids a lot.
07:29I work with women a lot. And I work with patients who is complaining of pain as well. So with those knowledge that I have, it's, it's impossible for me not to feel anything.
07:44Um, um, um, um, actually, um, actually the feeling to go to Gaza so that I can serve the woman and children there has been, has been born since, uh, the 7th October.
08:00I was going to ask you about what it took, the planning and the preparation that went into going for the mission. But I, I think I want to go straight into what you experienced in Gaza.
08:15So, um, when did you arrive in Gaza? And can I ask you what your first 24 hours was like? What did you see? What was the feeling? If you don't mind reliving back the, the, those first days?
08:29Yeah, sure. Um, so when I, um, when I wanted, when I put the niat to go into Gaza, I made my research, what is the best platform to go?
08:41So, uh, I put my name, I contact back my, uh, senior consultants who is very, uh, uh, involved in NGO. So they give me contact here and there until my name is put in the list of, uh, anesthetists to go to Gaza.
09:00I waited for one year before I get to be chosen to go to Gaza. Um, that, well, in that one year, I go through, uh, Mercy, uh,
09:11training, uh, so that, uh, Mercy's, Mercy Malaysia is very professional. I've never seen NGO so professional.
09:19They have an SOP, right? They've done these missions many times. Amazing.
09:24NGO to me, before I learn about Mercy Malaysia's SOP and the way they work, I thought all NGOs are the same until I get myself involved, uh, heavily involved with, uh, their operations.
09:40They, they, they are very professional. Um, when I learned that they are the legit, um, official, uh, with, uh, strong international connection, uh, and platform to go into Gaza, which is the WHO via United Nations,
10:02I really followed their training one by one, uh, uh, according to their schedule.
10:08So, by the time we get the green light to go in, so all of us were actually happy and at the same time, we have a feeling of,
10:16let's be, uh, uh, uh, calm about it. Everyone is excited, we know, but this is not, uh, uh, traveling and tourism, uh, uh, uh, uh, visit.
10:33This is a mission of, um, uh, uh, into a hot crisis area.
10:40An active war zone. Active war zone with, uh, humanitarian crisis.
10:46Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
11:16month was that when was that it was in ramadan was ramadan was this the ceasefire had already
11:21been broken yes the ceasefire has been breached and the active bombing start happening again
11:32the the aids and the medical aids are all being stopped going in being blocked being blocked
11:41so when we first enter when we first arrived in the center of ghazaland safely i mean sort of safely
11:57we were very grateful because we went through the process and alhamdulillah
12:04um somehow the process uh we went through the process without no major challenge without uh
12:16without major uh major events or major distraction i suppose that is the baraka of ramadan
12:27uh all of us were very happy uh when we first arrived we remember we had to do our jama our
12:36zuhur and asar jama and um we need when we enter we arrive at the center of gaza strip while our
12:48assignment is actually at the north of the gaza strip so by the time we arrived we it was near maghrib
12:57and we as an sop we have agreed we will not travel during the night so we had to take uh to find shelter
13:07uh in a nearing place uh alhamdulillah one of the ngo of another international ngo saw us there so they took
13:17us uh into their uh place and uh give us a room and food to break our fast that day uh and then
13:26the next day uh we do our um uh solat taraweh together and then another um another uh sahur and then
13:42continue fasting and the next day we took the uh we are being escort to go to the north to al-shifat hospital
13:52hospital so you were based in al-shifat hospital yes um who who was your first patient who did you
13:59treat what kind of injuries did you see my first patient uh i was in gaza for one month that first
14:07patient i got to see him until he recovered oh alhamdulillah it's a nine years nine years old kid
14:16but he was so small because of malnutrition he looked like a seven years old um
14:21um mashallah that kid i remember him um i'm not sure if i can mention his name but i remember his name um
14:33he when i received him he is already um he brought he was brought in to emergency department because he had his
14:44uh uh village has been bombed that night he had uh bombed shrapnel in his kidney in his lung and
14:55bits and pieces uh in uh his uh arms and legs um so that kid um he was um about about 20 kilos for a nine
15:11years old that's very light um so we did i did surgery for him uh for the first time um it was uh around
15:24during the day morning shift um he need uh blood transfusion after uh he had four surgeon worked on him
15:36uh one for the kidney one for the limbs and one for the one in in in in his lung uh so we brought him
15:46after the surgery he he survived the surgery hanallah oh as as an uh anesthetist how do you manage pain when
15:57you have such limited resources because of the medical aid is not coming in because of the blockade
16:04how do you work with what you have with in al-shifa situation at the time we still have long acting
16:13opioids narcotics that is available so i use i balance between narcotics and peripheral nerve block peripheral
16:24nerves block peripheral nerves block last longer compared to the one that is injected into the patient's
16:30blood uh i really make full use of uh peripheral nerve blocks in in when i was in gaza because um the at the
16:41time the drugs were readily available and it is not difficult to perform and it lasts longer until the
16:51operation day of the operation day of the next day without patient to have to feel drowsy okay do you know
16:59what the situation is now uh it's pretty bad from what i heard compared to before uh i have left gaza
17:10street for almost one month so it's been three months since the blockade of all aid coming in yes so i
17:19can imagine so it's not just famine but the medical resources must have been depleted yeah yeah depleted and
17:27depleting in fact uh i think recently we heard uh in in in the news that al-shifa hospital director dr
17:35mahammad is asking for people to allow a blood uh to be uh to be uh transferred in so that that
17:44transfusion can be can be done to patients for resuscitation and recovery dr senyora i don't know
17:51whether this is very painful to remember but was there a moment from the 30 days that stayed with you
17:57uh i think every moment of that today stayed with me i i i can't forget any of the moment the sad moment
18:08the joy moment when i was there i managed to do two brain surgery uh two brain tumor surgery um
18:18um um that was um sorry it's okay i think i and one spine tumor surgery in in a such um uh very
18:35limited resources very limited technology very limited time to to make them have a comfort
18:47comfort treatment and comfort uh comfort comfort comfort room to recover but they recover fast with like
19:01they never did surgery before they are amazing people gaza amazing people these two brain tumor surgery
19:09patient when i did surgery on them i use very basic anesthetic drugs that is available
19:17in on that line uh while in our country we will use ultra ultra drugs so that we can get a good
19:29neurological recovery for our patient but for these three surgery as much as i can i tried my best to use
19:39whatever basic anesthetic drugs they in on the land and i tried my best to emulate the effect of ultra drugs using
19:48these basic drugs um i tried my baby my very best to emulate those uh effects uh i cannot get um exactly as the
20:01effect of an ultra drugs of anesthesia but with what we what we had the patient wake up after surgery with
20:11full conscious level pain free patient can talk to family member they can drink they can
20:19eat and when i showed the video of the surgery to family member and the family member get to see the
20:25the father become like that the joy that they show is the joy that i can can never forget that so those are
20:35the joy moment that i had when i was in gaza in gaza good news are very rare um most of the time the news are
20:46uh poignant poignant poignant poignant disheartening um for example uh we uh bring in food aid uh we want to
20:59bring for three villages but not all the people in the village get to eat the food so those are uh the
21:08the disheartening news you see you you want to give but not all of them can get it because it wasn't enough
21:14uh it wasn't enough uh with because the resources is limited uh as much as you want to help you everyone
21:28the reality is um you can only help with what you have so those are the reality that any ngo need to
21:37have in their mind when they are being deployed to a situation like this so that
21:45a little disheartening situation like that will not make you feel down so for so many days you
21:52you didn't um i'm sure you what you saw and observed must have taken such an emotional toll on you
22:00no matter how prepared anyone is when you you are faced with such destruction and tragedy and death
22:07it will take a toll emotional toll on you how did you um make sure that you were able to get up and serve
22:16every day your your mission what you wanted to do the most difficult emotion that i had there was um
22:23um how i wish i can do more how i wish i'm not supposed to say this how i wish one day we have 36 hours okay
22:33you see not enough hours in the day to help enough hours how i wish um we get to bring supplies how i wish we
22:45get to bring more people to help but all this the more you think like that the more it will bring it
22:53will make you feel heavy to start your day tomorrow so i make a peace with myself um i am i am here with
23:03what i have i am here with the people that i have this is my team and i am here to be one of the tools
23:13that have that allah have put so many tools already in that land you are just one of the tools just
23:20uh make full use of yourself with whatever that i have so with that i get to get up every day and
23:30every day we are somehow we keep our spirit high every day masha'allah the team that we went was a very
23:39perky and and good team is it true that you were the only anesthetist oh yes uh pain interventionist
23:48pain interventionist in the entire gaza yes yes at that time when you were deployed at a time so when
23:54we were we were 25 days in al-shifa uh in al-shifa i teach the junior doctors blogs a lot and they really
24:03uh appreciated they are very enthusiastic learner uh especially the juniors uh the junior anesthesia
24:10doctors and even the medical students and the interns they are when well when i was there i mean i make
24:18myself full use in all the critical areas including the red zone the resuscitation of emergency department
24:26so i bring the interns with me to do how i teach them how to uh uh to make yourself useful in a
24:34resuscitation area so i teach them to insert cannula which is a very basic thing but if no one shows
24:42that to the interns they wouldn't know what to do intern basically they are from the book uh the book people
24:50and to teach them how to use whatever that they learn from the book into the to the patient the
24:55practical the practical part if you don't initiate and teach them how to put it on the real world they
25:01wouldn't know what to do so those are another joy that i had i i i enjoy teaching uh the the the juniors when
25:12i teach them and when i get to see them become better and they become uh specialist today subhanallah
25:20it's the best feeling ever that's that's really lovely to hear can i ask you the minute also that we
25:24have left i've heard so much about the strength and resilience of the palestinians yes is that what
25:30you observed as well yes um there's no way people can make them disappear they they are they are very
25:43resilient i've never seen what i've never seen what resilient really look like until i went there they
25:54they as much as they are being uh as much as people determined to make them disappear their determination to
26:08exist is probably tenfold compared to the people who want to destroy them they make sure buy and selling
26:17happening every day on that land education happens every day on that land whether it's in a tent or in a
26:45refugee camp or in a little house that they may use to be to make it become school well imagine for the
26:55last for seven seven seven years that gaza strip have 97 tips 97 percent literacy rate highest some of the
27:08highest in the highest in the highest despite being oppressed and being sieged being in prison amazing
27:20amazing people how can you destroy people like that you no one can destroy them uh if allah does not allow
27:28it to happen that is the the free palestine we will see one day yes and 67 of them are phd and master
27:34holder amazing amazing subhanallah thank you so much for being on the show with me today i really
27:41appreciate you coming and sharing your experiences thank you for having me thank you for having me
27:46that's all we have for you on this episode of the futures female i'm melissa idris signing
27:51up for the evening thank you so much for watching good night
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