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his daughter there [to the MSF hospital], the situation is safe. I told you I used to go to have surgeries [at the RSP] and be there by myself. If I slept there for one week or ten days, it didn’t matter for me if nobody from the family came [to visit]. There were thousands of people like me in a safe situation” (RSP15, Syrian, F). Another crucial aspect for participants was that of equal
(greetings, enquiries about their names and country of origin). Those who spoke some English would occasionally talk about their injuries, how they acquired them, and their progress after surgery. They also expressed curiosity about where I was from, what my country was like, and my family. In the first period of study I conducted daily observations of hospital life, following doctors and surgeons on their
The Introduction opens with a description of the book’s intent and my position as an anthropologist examining the humanitarian field. I introduce the story of one war victim – Ismael – who presents in microcosm the unique aspects of the patients in the MSF Reconstructive Surgery Programme (RSP). I go on to explore the invisibility of the war-wounded, especially those who have never participated in combat. The Introduction continues with a discussion on the delivery of humanitarian surgery, a specific field in the larger world of humanitarian aid. I touch briefly on the history of MSF surgical programmes and capture some of the history of MSF’s surgical practices, which go back to the very origins of the organization itself. RSP is a programme that reflects the cumulative MSF experience. The Introduction concludes with an in-depth description of MSF’s RSP in Amman, Jordan. Currently, patients in the RSP, who often sustain critical injuries years before they are admitted to the hospital, have various levels of disability or have lived with significant post-surgical complications. The Introduction explores several of the aspects that make the RSP unique. Among them are surgical procedures focused on functional improvements, the months and sometimes years-long rehabilitation undergone by patients away from their home countries, the scale of the programme, and the multi-disciplinary treatment provided.
being proposed. As a medical anthropologist I would be given the unique opportunity to carry out independent research centred on MSF’s Reconstructive Surgery Programme (RSP) for the victims of war in the Middle East. Working as an anthropologist in the humanitarian field, I would be joining a group of authors who have critically examined humanitarian practice, including those researching MSF. The
having anyone know. They did the surgery. I woke up from anaesthesia at home. It was prohibited to stay in the hospital [for long]. Father: We paid a big amount of money just to let him go into the hospital for one hour to
another occasion, a female patient asked to try on the nurse’s lab coat, which was allowed without any reluctance. Figure 8 The interior of the hotel. The part of the hotel where patients are located as they wait for their surgeries
in the MSF hospital, it became apparent that the impact was multidimensional. Very few patients reported receiving no benefit from the programme (some were disappointed with new scars or depigmentation after plastic or maxillofacial surgeries, and one regretted having a leg amputated). The vast majority of participants talked about the overlapping areas of improvement associated with physical, emotional
One widely debated issue that raises concerns of both cultural relativism and Western essentialism is that of what is termed female circumcision, genital surgery or genital mutilation. 163 Female genital mutilation involves the removal of parts of female genitalia, often without anaesthetic, most commonly when girls are very young. The operation is traditionally performed by an older woman
(Human Rights Watch 1994 ). This document, though widely reported, is ostensibly still secret and its legal status has never been publicly clarified by the authorities (Wang 2015 ). These temporary rules were superseded by the Regulation on Human Organ Transplantation, issued by the State Council in May 2007 (State Council 2007 ). All of the above shows that until 2015 the authorities did not even claim to have an operating voluntary organ donation system. An organ transplant surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars (TV
. After the Second World War, work in plastic surgery broke new ground ( Geomelas at al., 2011 ). Sir Archibald McIndoe, a pioneer in the field of plastic surgery, treated veterans, developing novel techniques, particularly for the reconstruction of faces damaged by burns. During this period, medical personnel were aware of the need to work not only on patients’ bodies; they knew they must prepare