I arrived in Pakistan in January 2011. After a short briefing in the capital office, I took a plane to Quetta, to my project site, where I met my team. In fact I had met the project coordinator (or PC) already in my previous mission in Nigeria. I also knew many of the national staff, … Read more
I accepted my posting to Tari with a lot of apprehension. But the reality was quite unique. Tari seemed like a hill station – beautiful, lush green, unexplored, unspoilt and wild. It was a pleasure to snuggle into soft blankets at night after a hot shower and wake up gazing at misty mountains. Very unlike … Read more
Natural bounty and manmade poverty: that sums up my experiences in Ivory Coast. This was my second mission with MSF, working as a Medical Doctor. Postconflict Abidjan, where my plane landed, was a wasteland of deserted streets and shut-down shops, as if it was in mourning for the loss of lives and the struggles that … Read more
After working for almost a decade as a general physician in various public and private health organisations, I wanted to do something new. I had worked in a government hospital, on private projects supported by international donors, in the city, as well as in remote areas. I had been a clinician and a manager. But … Read more
“I have learnt to make a difference with little resources”, Ashok Sankpal, Medical Doctor with MSF. Dr. Ashok as his colleagues call him, is from Mumbai, and has spent the last two years in Ethiopia and South Sudan, where he was working with the international medical humanitarian organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Q. Ethiopia and … Read more
As I was getting ready for my mission to Papua New Guinea to work as a logistician, I had so many thoughts racing through my mind about the place, people, culture, work and how to cope living away from my family for 12 long months. This was to be my first mission as an international … Read more
I first heard about Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as a child. I was seven and, at that very moment, impressed by the selflessness of the French doctors risking their lives to save the refugees streaming across the Afghan border into Pakistan, I decided to become a surgeon. As fate would have it, 21 years after … Read more
Last June riots erupted in Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan, killing at least 400 people and injuring thousands more. MSF teams provided medical care and assistance to many of the injured. xxxxxxxxxxxx helped one young man who escaped death by leaping from a sixth floor window During my mission in Osh, I was called to see … Read more
The first time I heard about MSF was on 26 May 2009, when Dr Shanti Hegde, an experienced MSF volunteer from Karnataka, came to my institute, along with Farhat Mantoo from the human resources office, to give a presentation about MSF’s activities. I was very much impressed by MSF’s principles, values and medical humanitarian work. … Read more
Francis Gatluak was one of the first people MSF ever treated for kala azar, a neglected disease also known as visceral leishmaniasis. When Francis became better, he stayed at the hospital and began working with MSF, first as a translator, and then he began to learn how to provide treatment. This video was screened at … Read more