Arab-American Doctor mentors Iraqi medical students
Kelsey Boudin
Olean Times Herald
Still reeling from wars and a current existential threat from the Islamic State, the country of Iraq faces a doctor shortage and an overall gap in medical experience.
That’s where Olean colorectal surgeon Dr. Adil Al-Humadi comes in — at the request of Iraq’s minister of health, no less.
Al-Humadi, along with several other doctors from the non-governmental organization Together for Iraq (TOFIQ), which was established in 2011 by Dr. Hadi Al-Khalili of Washington, D.C., returned to his homeland recently to mentor medical students and demonstrate newer surgical procedures. The trip comes about every two years, he said, noting he and his colleagues also traveled elsewhere in the region for business and pleasure en route to the Arab-American Medical Association meetings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Muscat, Oman.
“We are trying to help the Iraqi colleagues to bring them up to the level that we used to be in the medical school,” Al-Humadi said. “Most of those who are the higher-caliber (doctors) in Iraq left. Either they were threatened or kidnapped for ransom money.”
In addition to lecturing, Al-Humadi demonstrated two different colorectal surgeries on patients at Avicina Hospital in what’s known as the green zone in Baghdad, a tightly secured complex that now houses the American embassy near the sprawling palace of executed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on the west bank of the Tigris River.
Al-Humadi received a golden plaque and certificate of appreciation from Iraqi Minister of Health Dr. Adela Hammoud.
“(The medical students) were very eager to learn,” said Al-Humadi, who was joined on the trip from Dec. 13 through Jan. 7 by fellow surgeon Dr. Bakir Al-Tai of New York City and others from Europe.
“The challenges are many,” Al-Humadi said, referring to bolstering the national medical system that has suffered numerous setbacks amid decades of war and sectarian violence. “I was very impressed by the new things they were doing. They’re trying their best to keep up recent advances in the treatment of breast cancer and kidney transplants in Iraq. They are trying very hard to keep up with what is going on in the medical world.”
Many facets of modern medical science have a basis in ancient Middle Eastern practices, he noted.
A personal highlight of the journey was visiting the Iraqi Museum, he said. The museum was ransacked and looted during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, but great strides have been made to restore and recover priceless artifacts from the Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian eras.
“It’s beautiful. … That has a lot of ancient antiquity,” Al-Humadi said. “You’re in the cradle of civilization.”
He also traveled to notable religious sites like the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, the mosques of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali and the biggest Shia graveyard in the world, where his father is buried. Al-Humadi poured water on his father’s grave, as is tradition.
Al-Humadi, 75, recalled growing up in Baghdad. The city’s formerly beautiful nature has “changed forever,” he said.
“The city of Baghdad is very crowded. There are traffic jams and a lot of street peddlers,” he said. “Baghdad used to be very nice and clean, but it has been, unfortunately, neglected.”
Al-Humadi displayed pictures of crumbling buildings in certain parts of the city and even a man with a donkey walking against traffic in the middle of a busy street. However, some wealthier parts have remained quite beautiful, he noted.
Security has also improved in recent years, he said.
“There’s no kidnapping. Very rarely there will be an explosion or suicide (bombing) in Baghdad,” Al-Humadi said. “It happens now and then, but the situation is much better. Baghdad is a more liveable city.”
He felt free to walk parts of the city at night, dine at restaurants, and buy rare books and stamps.
But citizens are quietly vigilant for danger with prevalent extremism and the Islamic State stronghold looming to the north.
“The people are simple. They don’t look for Shia or Sunni. They want to live,” Al-Humadi said. “They’re ordinary people. … The people know it’s going on, but they don’t talk about it.
“There’s a 1 percent chance that if you are going anywhere, some idiot next to you in a car might explode himself. Nothing like this happened while we were there, period.”
He noted, though, the real estate agent who sold his family home in Baghdad was killed in a suicide bombing about a year ago. Al-Humadi had previously dined at the exact location where the attack was carried out.
“We were there two years ago, sitting having a sandwich and drinking pomegranate juice,” he said.
The Al-Humadis have given $50,000 to the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at St. Bonaventure University to establish the Dr. Adil and Jehan Al-Humadi Lecture Series for Arab and Islamic Studies.
Source: www.oleantimesherald.com