Why the MBBS docs are thinking twice about serving in earthquake zone

Guest post by Joe Niemczura, RN, MS 

(First carried in his blog; republished here with his permission.) 

The truth
I know a doctor here in Nepal who once spent a month trekking from village to village in his district, working with every VDC, to examine women and find the ones who could benefit from a specialized surgical camp set up by a German charity group.  And for every doctor and nurse in Nepal, going on a “health camp” to a rural area is part of normal practice.

The sacrament of the goddess: Book by Niemczura

The innuendo
On May 26th, there was a short article in Republica newspaper bemoaning the fact that 300 doctors are needed in the earthquake-affected areas of Nepal,  and only about 19 responded to the government’s call to work in the earthquake zone. The writer was heaping shame on the young doctors of Nepal.

The response
I wrote a quick response, since the volunteer project I do here in Nepal involves working with those very same doctors, at the beginning of their career.
Today on Twitter I see that the original article has been retweeted more than a hundred times, and seemingly refuses to die. I replied to the retweets offering to give more info as to why young docs might be reluctant but – the writer of the original article did not call me.

Don’t pay  attention to Twitter?
I am aware that Twitter is a bit shadowy. Many of these people who tweet are seeking sensational stories and false outrage. Any twelve-year-old with a mobile can tweet. We don’t know who is “serious” – so, often it’s best to ignore them.

But this time I will be a bit more direct.

Here is what the young doctors are being asked to do, from what it sounds like.

1) go to work in a recent earthquake zone where the houses, schools and health posts have been destroyed.

2) live in the same kind of temporary structure that the people they serve are living in, just as exposed to the elements as the others;