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Sudan is in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis. Millions are displaced and the health system there is collapsing. On this episode of #TheFutureIsFemale Melisa Idris speaks with Dr Annie Lin Sheng-Yi, an anaesthesiologist with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders. Dr Annie Lin has served on multiple MSF assignments in some of the toughest humanitarian settings, and has recently returned from Sudan.
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00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to The Futures Female. This is the show where we
00:15find the extraordinary in every woman. Sudan is in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis.
00:23Millions are being displaced and the healthcare system there is collapsing. So that will be our
00:28focus on the show tonight because joining me as my guest today is Dr. Annie Lin Shengyi who is an
00:35anesthesiologist with Medicines on Frontier also known as Doctors Without Borders. She has served
00:41on multiple MSF missions and in some of the most the toughest humanitarian settings there are
00:47and has recently returned from a mission in Sudan. So welcome to the show Annie. Thank you so much
00:54for joining me. Before we go into the recent mission that you returned from, can you tell
01:00me first a little bit about yourself and how you came to what I guess what first led you to work in
01:08humanitarian medicine? Okay yes thank you for the introduction. Yes I am I'm an anesthesiologist
01:16from Taiwan and I joined MSF Doctors Without Borders since last summer. So so far I've had three missions.
01:25The first one was in Afghanistan and the second one was in Sierra Leone and the third one the most recent
01:32one was in Sudan. Yes so I just finished the mission in Sudan like and arrived back home in Taiwan last Thursday.
01:40Yeah it's really recent. How did you start to become involved with MSF and being sent on missions?
01:49Is there something that you need to do to be able to be deployed into MSF missions?
01:55Well actually the application process was really normal like applied online and there were some
02:05interviews and there were some they asked me to write some articles about like abortion and you have
02:12some another more interviews and then about like after half a year and then I was accepted yep and then
02:22yeah after about another one half of a year and I finally got my first mission it was in Afghanistan and
02:29and then yep. What made you want to be part of humanitarian medicine work because as an anesthesiologist
02:37if you were to practice in Taiwan I'm sure it's a very comfortable life it would be hard work but you
02:43would also be in a safe environment in a kind of orderly you'll be practicing medicine with all the
02:50trimmings right yeah working on in a conflict zone working with a humanitarian organization like MSF is hard.
02:58What made you decide you wanted to be part of it? That's a very good question um I think it's
03:04because I really want to see different worlds different worlds other than the like the modern
03:09medical settings and also like um in Taiwan I think it's because the health government health insurance
03:17makes the um it's so cheap and so convenient to get to see a doctor so sometimes um Taiwanese people
03:24they they didn't really they didn't cherish this so much and um so that's why I really want to go to
03:33those places that really the need the medical help the most yeah so um you were in Sudan during
03:44October November that was end of October was the violence in Al-Fashar
03:50yes yes October 26th so you were in Sudan when uh Al-Fashar the horrific violence that we saw the
04:00um scorched earth tactics the violence the sexual violence the killings all happened there
04:06talk to me a little bit about your experience I'm so curious to know let's start from when you first
04:13arrived you were based in Tawila Tawila okay so talk to me about what that was like the first 24 hours
04:20when you arrived what was it that you saw and what were your I guess um what was required of you in this mission
04:28well uh I arrived at the end of September and started working on the first of October and um
04:36yep it it among all the three missions I had so far um this mission is definitely the most like the most remote
04:44one the most austere one because um I had to fly to Chad first and then took the U.S. small flight
04:52um to the um the border um to this the uh the small place called Andre it was uh it's in at the border of
05:00Chad and uh Sudan and then uh I took the car and it it took us like three days from the border of
05:09Chad um from the border all the way to Tawila yeah and and the road condition was really bad it was
05:16bumpy and um it was like sand the sand road and uh our car didn't have ac so we had to keep the windows
05:25open to have the good ventilation um yeah so when we arrived my luggage was covered with sand
05:32yeah and um the the environment of our guest house and the hospital it's really it was it's really I
05:41have to say primitive because there were like insects everywhere there were like lizards and flies
05:48and uh also mice yep so I confess Annie that I hadn't heard of Tawila before your your um coming on the
05:57show and doing research for this interview um I think many of us who are very far away from Sudan
06:05may not understand just how how geographically large Sudan is but also how hard connectivity is
06:13in Sudan from um from Khatum and North Darfur and the like so where exactly were you based and talk to
06:21me about the position of um Tawila and how it's quite close to al-fasher yes and so where when there was
06:31violence in al-fasher many people were displaced and moved to Tawila okay talk to me about that yes our
06:40project our hospital um is in Tawila and um even though uh the distance according to the google map
06:47uh the distance from al-fasher to Tawila is only like 56 or let's say 60 kilometers but um maybe you
06:57may think okay it's only one hour drive away but because the road condition is really really bad it's
07:03like the sand is up up and down up and down so um according to the OT nurse uh she came from
07:11uh um a space very near a fascia it's called Zamzam camp um um all the way to Tawila um at the beginning
07:20of this year and um it took her three days to reach to Tawila and uh the first day she she uh she had to
07:30ride the ride the donkey and uh the second day and the third day she paid for um for the truck the those
07:39very big trucks that can that can accommodate like hundreds of people yeah those big trucks so it took
07:45her three days um to come to Tawila yeah so um you arrived uh end of September early October and talk to
07:57me about what you saw and how maybe it progressed after the al-fasher violence and many of the survivors
08:06arrived in Tawila seeking medical attention yeah before the mass casualties before uh the fall of
08:14al-fasher um because i work in in the OT so um averagely um there were like six to eight surgeries
08:24per day before the fall of al-fasher and but after after october 26 um because there were like too many
08:34people coming from al-fasher for example there was one night um statistically there were 889 people
08:44coming from al-fasher to Tawila in one night so among them there were a lot of them they were like
08:51trauma cases because of the civil war yeah and also because um the the people uh they stuck in fush in
08:59al-fasher for for a long time because rsf had a besieged al-fasher for 18 months and during those 18
09:08months they didn't allow people coming out and didn't allow supply if uh including the food getting
09:15into al-fasher so people stuck in in al-fasher they they didn't have food yeah yeah yeah yeah so they
09:24really from um from kids to the elders and pregnant women they really suffered from like very severe
09:31new malnutrition status yep so yeah uh they're like quite weak and uh also because of the the war so
09:41they got injured by gunshots or bombarding and also because um the hygiene there was not good so also
09:51infection would was quite um yeah easily developed and could be very severe yeah so yeah so that's why
10:00we uh we suddenly had so many trauma cases infection cases yeah when i read news reports about the
10:09the war in sudan i read you know statements from the un for instance that say um 75 of the health
10:19facilities in sudan have collapsed the healthcare system is collapsing it's non-functional it's or
10:26barely operational help me put that into a reality for sudanese people what does that mean for the
10:35patients for the wounded for the mothers and the children and civilians who need medical attention
10:43in practical terms when a country's healthcare system has been decimated 75 of it has been decimated
10:52what does that mean for the people of sudan in your observations your experience doctor well um for
10:59example for the pregnant women they could not have regular except checkup before like giving birth to
11:06their babies so yeah also among all the three missions i've had um in sudan there were like much more uh
11:18dead babies yep um during the c-sections yep the the babies were already died of dead before the mother came
11:29came to our hospital yeah were you given medical or training did you have to prepare for yourself
11:38mentally or emotionally before you went on the mission and i can only imagine because who would
11:44have imagined the horrors that happened in alpha she would come to light i mean it's horrified the whole
11:50world because we could see google images google earth images of blood on the sand that can be seen from
11:57a satellite in space um were you prepared for what you saw in actually i i did because i think it's a
12:05coincidence i didn't expect that um during my stay there will be like the fall of afasha and there will
12:12be so many patients the mass casualties would happen so i didn't expect that but before the mission or like
12:20before every mission in msf would prepare ourselves we would have a lot of briefings in different
12:27aspects like the cultural briefings the um like the medical briefings and we would have uh also
12:34handovers from our previous um like my previous anesthetist yeah so uh so so we can have a better
12:43preparation for our mission so you went in there already kind of ready to serve ready to to um be of
12:52help to to the patients of um of of sudan talk to me a little bit about the challenges of operating
13:00under one i'm wondering whether uh medical aid or humanitarian aid was allowed to come in to to
13:07relay what was did you have access to aid because you mentioned in alpha shirt no aid no food was allowed
13:14in what uh was there access to medical um supplies where you were based well um so far taweela is still
13:25like a relatively safe place so that's why a lot of people from afasha came to taweela so um even though
13:33the road condition was was not good at all but um at least the route is um is fine even though um along
13:41the alongside the road all the way the uh from chad to taweela there are a lot of uh different um
13:48checkpoints we always had to stop and the military would come came up to us and check our documents
13:56but um and that's all it it was actually quite smooth yep so um yep so the the supply actually um
14:06um was fine yep um we used that um used that route the the only problem was the condition of the route
14:14um yeah it was so bumpy so uh that's one of the reasons that uh the x-ray machine could not uh could
14:24not be um transported to our hospital so um the hospital in sudan the project is like really the
14:31um the the like lack of a lot of facilities we we didn't have x-rays we uh and the lab uh data we
14:41the blood test uh test we could only do uh hemoglobin and blood sugar and that's all we couldn't have
14:48we didn't have any other um blood tests like the thyroid function the cardiac enzyme or they like
14:54uh electrolytes any other very basic blood tests so that must have made it very challenging to practice
15:00very very challenging very challenging yeah well how did you have to adapt and i'm sure that um
15:09not just the the healthcare professionals or the um people trying to help each other but also
15:15communities um sudanese themselves have had to adapt to living in this war that's been going on
15:23for a while now have you seen examples of how that's given you hope um you know of examples of
15:31resilience that you've seen when during your time there well um like because um luckily at least like
15:42all of our national staff they were not um injured were killed by the war but they they have like
15:48friends and family in afasha and some of you have some of their their clothes their loved ones were
15:55like injured or even passed away so from time to time uh we would um we i would see that oh suddenly uh
16:03the ot nurse or the um yeah the nurse at the ipd suddenly like cry and um because she got the news that
16:13she uh lost her family or friend um yeah so we would let her like take that day off and you have to
16:21calm and you have to to calm herself for that day but um afterwards when she came to work yeah she still
16:30tried to put herself together and um yeah work hard and even like smile and greeting each other each other
16:38um everybody yeah so um yeah so i still feel like even though they had they had encountered such a big
16:48disasters but they still try to manage it very well and try to put themselves together like um in a very
16:59like i have to say very fast way yeah so resilient um dr can i ask you do you've been to multiple missions do
17:07you think the world is paying attention to what is happening in sudan i have to say no comparing to
17:15like ukraine whereas gaza um maybe much less and that's also why like um during those uh during the past
17:2618 months when rsf were besieging el fascia making the people starved in um starved in el fascia we we
17:38didn't we didn't do anything for to stop it yeah and i noticed the mainstream media coverage of sudan is
17:48also not as much as we would you know it doesn't really compare to the the suffering we don't really
17:54read about the suffering that's happening the devastation that's happening there which is why i
18:00really love talking to um msf because i feel that you always bear witness to what is happening you
18:08come back and you tell the stories of what is happening in the conflict zones that you serve
18:14talk to me about how important that is how important is it to as a medical professional i know
18:20sometimes you're taught to be um neutral but because of the responsibility of witnessing of
18:27bearing witness and then sharing that story with the rest of the world how do you see your role in
18:35sharing that story well i think this is also it's a very important part for yeah to tell the truth to
18:44arouse the like the the attention because um it because um if we don't we don't pay attention um to
18:56them they're being ignored their condition would not end their condition would only get worse
19:03yes so that's why i am willing to have so many interviews and try to try to yeah try to remind people
19:11that um even though you're so lucky you poor you're like living in a very convenient modern um environment
19:20you you have food if you have clean water and you can you can see the doctor um in a very like in
19:28in like several days yeah very very convenient but um you have to be grateful these are not like things
19:36like should be taken for granted and also peace there's no war here but there it's not these are
19:44not these these are things that should not be taken for granted on the contrary you should be grateful
19:51and also you should like um try to help those who's really in need because you have the capacity you
19:59have the the ability to do so yeah before you went to sudan do you think people what do you think
20:07people misunderstand the most about not just the country but the conflict that's happening there
20:13what is it that we when we were watching from afar we don't really understand is there anything that
20:18you would like us to know um about the humanitarian crisis there um i would say um maybe one of the
20:26reasons people didn't pay much attention to the crisis in sudan was because it's civil war it's not
20:33like um like ukraine and russia or like the gaza problem so maybe people would say oh it's your own
20:41problem it's not my none of my business because it's your like sudanese and sudanese like attacking each
20:48other but i have to say that um the they the sudanese people they're they're innocent actually and um the
20:59genocide was happening is is happening it's not um it should be stopped yeah so even even if okay you
21:09can i have to say um the war um maybe there's a we cannot avoid the war but we really should stop
21:19all those tortures all those genocide yep what is it that we can do so the public watching today
21:28um you said you know we shouldn't take things for granted but we should also do all we can
21:33to support to support to try and help and end the violence how do we support um humanitarian work
21:40how do we maybe raise awareness about these types of injustices well i think firstly uh pay attention keep
21:49and constantly paying attention to uh all those disasters and uh and also remind um people around
21:59you that the disasters the disasters are still going on and um if you could um like donation because
22:09they're uh the the found the founding budget from like usa is like much cut down this year yeah funding for
22:20for these types of um humanitarian yes yes yes yes yes so yeah i think even though you cannot go to
22:28go to the front line to and to help the local people but i think that's we what we can do yeah
22:36so are you going to be going on other missions in the future do you want to continue your
22:40humanitarian medicine work yes yes yes of course i really wish that i could um have at least one to
22:47two missions per year so that also like i would not forget how the local people um how the real
22:56condition is and also i can bring the like the my experience and share with other people and to
23:02remind them um yeah to to pay more attention to those in need can i ask you if there's anyone watching
23:10today um young women especially if they're interested in humanitarian medicine but they might
23:17be hesitant because of the dangers because of the risks that they may be exposed to what would you say
23:24to them how would you encourage them to maybe consider this path well actually um i'm not quite sure
23:31about other ngos but msf um for your first mission um usually you would you would send you
23:38would be sent to some chosen projects that's not like in the conflict zone yep for example my my
23:45first mission was in afghanistan but actually after 2021 after the evacuation of uh american army um
23:53there there there's no war in afghanistan so now they're like in a relatively rebuilding right yeah
24:00rebuilding and peace status so yep so um if you're really interested in like the humanitarian work
24:10yeah usually for the first mission is it would not be so so tough so yeah so crazy so you can you can
24:17try and to see if you can like how you how you manage how you face all those like um very very uh brutal
24:28conditions yeah if you can if you can if you can you you you can manage it well you think you can it's
24:35okay for you then you can just like me you can take uh the second one the third one and if you really
24:41cannot you really don't like it you you cannot make it that's fine then you can just like donate or
24:49pay attention yeah at least you try yeah at least you try can i ask you any from the first mission from
24:54afghanistan then sierra leone and then um sudan how has how has the work changed you practicing
25:04trauma medicine in a conflict in an active conflict zone how have you changed as a person as a as a
25:12woman as a medical professional has it changed you yes yes definitely just like mentioned i am every
25:21time when i come when i come back from from the missions um back in taiwan i i was like so so grateful
25:29so grateful for everything for like clean water for food and like when i when i was like taking a bus
25:37in taiwan i was so so so happy that oh the bus has ic and the real the road is like not bumpy at all
25:46yeah so yeah everything was like magic for me like oh it's so convenient it's so fast it's so cozy so
25:54comfortable you don't take anything for granted yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and also like yep um
26:01yep so um and also like there's some like difficulty to to get used to the to other people who who like
26:12because other people they're getting used to to this kind of environment so they would take use to it
26:18it they would uh take granted for it and always say no you should not like clean water clean water
26:25was it hard to adjust back to because you had been in such a a con in a conflict zone was it hard to
26:33adjust back do you feel that it's harder to adjust to relatively normal safe life uh it needs some time
26:43i need some time but otherwise my family or my friends would say it's not a big deal what are you
26:50doing yeah something like that you've seen things other people haven't which is why it's important to
26:55tell your story dr any thank you so much for being on the show with me for sharing for bringing us your
27:01stories from sudan and and other missions thank you for your time thank you that's all the time we have
27:07for you on this episode of the features female i'm melissa idris signing off for the evening thank you so
27:11much for watching and good night
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