To Lebanon with SCOPE

Text: Haykel Karoui | University of Lausanne

My name is Haykel Karoui and during my 6th year of study in medical school, I went to Beirut, thanks to swimsa and the IFMSA, to do a onemonth internship in August 2021.

There were 2 main reasons why I chose Beirut. The first is that I wanted to visit and discover an Arabic country which wasn’t part of the Maghreb. Indeed, having Tunisian origins, I wanted to explore the differences between cultures. The second reason is that I am fluent in Arabic, English and French, which are the 3 main languages spoken in the country, so I assumed that I would have no trouble being integrated there.

I chose to go to the orthopedics and trauma department at the Hôtel Dieu de France hospital in Beirut, because they are recognized as one of the best in the Middle East for orthopedics and in order to see different cases of traumatology that I will probably not have the chance to observe in Switzerland. During this period, the situation of the country was and is still unstable and going through a major financial and political crisis. It is for this reason that most of the information I looked for before I left was about security issues and financial details, as for example, if it would be better to have dollars or euros, a card or cash. Even with all this preparation, I was taken by surprise when I got there. Queues of 8 to 9 hours to get gasoline at gas stations, days with access to electricity for only 5 to 6 hours making the daily lives of people living in this country difficult. Despite this, the local committee was really welcoming and did their best not to let the situation in the country affect our internship.

So, my advice to someone who would like to go to Beirut or any other country facing a huge economic crisis is to be able to adapt to any situation. You must be prepared to always be flexible by accepting any transport you can get, have vegetarian meals every day because the meat is too expensive for the hospital, know when and where to charge your phone because you won’t be able to do it at home and live in a really hot country without air conditioning.

Despite all this, my experience there was just magical and unforgettable! In fact, all these problems we encountered were an entire part of the experience to be lived. Moreover, the Lebanese were so welcoming that they made us forget all that. The people at the hospital welcomed me, taught me, and helped me as if I was one of their own. I was very fortunate to assist and help in very long and difficult operations with some of the best surgeons in the Middle East, which was unexpected to me. Also, the hospitals where I worked could easily be considered at a European level of development. This can be explained by the fact that most of them are private hospitals, which was unusual for me.

Thanks to this month spent in Lebanon, I learned many different skills. Among these, making intradermal stitches or making a cast, but the most important thing I learned there was, in my opinion, their kind and warm way of treating the patient. Finally, the last thing I could say, is that I felt so at home that I believe I could easily go there to live a few years, practicing without any problems.

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