My first post after graduation was in Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department, Al Yarmuk General Hospital.
I spent there three months before I move to Al-Wasiti Hospital.
Al Wasiti Hospital is actually a small hospital with bed capacity of about 30. The work was on going to establish a new building for the hospital with greater facilities and services.
The hospital is situated in Al Alwyaa quarter in Baghdad. It was a one-floor building with the mortuary and few offices situated behind the main building.
Before the war we hardly saw emergency cases. The main bulk of our patients were elective cases of orthopedics and plastic surgery.
I was very interested in both fields actually, but I had always preferred plastic surgery.
The consultants were highly skilled although some of them obtained their qualification from Iraq and never had the chance to travel abroad for training.
Due to the small hospital size the hospital staffs were very friendly and I soon made good impression on them.
There was no hospital accommodation for the doctors and there were two rooms for on calls doctors to share.
During the war, our hospital, with its very limited resources, remind as one of the very few functioning hospitals in 9 April and few days later.
After the war, everything has changed in the hospital work. Now the main bulk of the hospital work was emergency and orthopedic cases. The plastic surgeons work was mainly on reconstruction of wounds and burns instead of breast and nose cosmetic procedures.
After I spend seven month in Al Wasiti Hospital, I wanted to resume my rotation that was interrupted by the war. Everyone in the hospital was sorry to see me leave, because we shared a lot of memories during the wartime. But I had to leave.
My new post was in Ibn Al Nafees Hospital for Cardiovascular Surgery. My main duties were in the Cardiac Catheterization Department and on call duties in the Accident and Emergency Department.
After two months there I was employed by the Medical City to spend there my second year of residency training.
Medical City Campus is situated at the bank of Tigris River, and is composed of four main hospitals. These are: Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Hospital of Surgical Specialtities, Al Mansour children Hospital and Private Nursing Hospital.
During that year I had rotated through many surgical and medical fields.
I have gained much experience in through out my internship year and I loved being a doctor.
However the health care system was in shambles and the lack of even the essential medications made our job an impossible mission.
My on call nights in the ER were the most difficult. We were always short of essential medications and even intravenous fluids to offer to the patients. Giving a one unit of blood to a dying patient was a process that takes about one to two hours to be accomplished.
The relatives of the patients had to undergo a humiliating process of running between the laboratory and the pharmacy to get the units of blood and initial medications.
My calls in the medical wards in Baghdad Teaching Hospital were no less horrible. Each call I had about 10 patients with severe shortness of breath without any available oxygen to offer them.
We were always subjected to verbal abuse and even physical violence from the angry relatives of the dying patients.
After I finished my residency training, I decided to enter the academic field by starting a post as a Physician Tutor in the College of Medicine, Baghdad University.
This post was actually granted for the top 20 graduates each year. I have started my work in the Biochemistry laboratory in October 2004.
My duties were to supervise a group of 20 students from the second stage of medical college. I would instruct them on performing practical experiments in Biochemistry. I had enjoyed the teaching experience so immensely. I had also made strong ties with my medical students and I even cheered their team up in the College Football Team.
Besides, working with the people who once taught me was a great experience.
I wished if I could stay in Iraq and spend all my life in my College, but many things forced me to change my career plans and heading for the unknown abroad.