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Local Humanitarian Physician of the Month from Jacksonville Medicine
Starting with this issue of Jacksonville Medicine, we intend to profile a physician who has volunteered some of his or her time, effort and/or money in helping to improve the quality of health of a patient population beyond the scope of this person’s routine working day. It has come to the attention of the DCMS that a number of local physicians are involved in some type of volunteer work. The intent of this monthly feature is to not only to highlight their efforts but also to publicize the various projects that these physicians are involved in and the organizations they work with.
A subcommittee of the DCMS, headed by Dr Jorge Gamba, is methodically collecting and organizing data on local volunteer physicians and the organizations they are assisting (anywhere in the world), so there is a central clearing house for other physicians who want to give of themselves. The only network that exists currently within the society is by word of mouth .If you know of any volunteer efforts involving local medical personnel, please contact Dr Gamba through the DCMS office. Plans are underway to develop a web site, linked to DCMS site, exclusively for volunteer work. This will also help to underline the need for physicians in a specific specialty or with a particular talent, especially medical education.
When physicians turn their thoughts to volunteer work, it will come as no surprise that they sometimes wonder whether they are making a difference in the lives of the people they intend to help and this may deter them from pursuing their effort. It is my pleasure to profile a physician who has made a tremendous difference.
Dr Quadratullah Mojadidi (Dr Mo as he is often called) is Director of the OB-gyn Department of the Family Practice Residency at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Jacksonville. He is a native of Afghanistan and has been a resident of Jacksonville since the mid sixties. For the past two decades Afghanistan has been besieged by war and has been subject to wanton destruction with the result that most of the infrastructure of this historic nation has been destroyed. A trade embargo and more recently severe drought have only worsened the situation for the local citizens.
After the Soviet Union (as it was known at the time) invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Dr Mo went behind rebel lines to train a small cadre of lay people to help take care of trauma injuries. It quickly became apparent to him that women were gravely neglected where health care was concerned. With the assistance of Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s) such as the International Resource Committee and “Help the Afghans,” Dr Mo rented a house, hired nurses and doctors at personal expense and started his first OB unit for Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan. This placed a significant financial strain on his private practice in Jacksonville as the overhead expenses mounted with no incoming revenue during his long absences. Politics being what it is, it must be pointed out that a lot of his efforts were done at expense of personal safety, especially after the death threats.
Word of mouth quickly spread amongst the refugees, fanning the popularity of the ten-bed OB hospital. At its pinnacle it was treating about 85 patients a day. Logistical help poured in from various nations such as Kuwait, Japan and Norway. Dr Mo turned to the American College of Gynecology (www.acog.org) for help and credits this organization for providing an enormous amount of help in the form of physicians and nurse anesthetists. A colleague at the FP residency, Dr Bruce McIntosh, helped to establish a basic nursery and train personnel in neonatal resuscitation, in an effort to reduce the infant mortality.
One of Dr Mo’s more memorable cases was a young woman who had been in labor for four days and presented with a fever. After a complicated delivery she delivered a baby with an Apgar score of 3. He suctioned the baby’s trachea with a catheter using his mouth resulting in a pea-soup dinner. After handing over the baby, he devoted his attention to the mother who responded to basic antibiotics. Mother and baby left the hospital days later, lucky to be alive, thanks to Dr Mo.
As more resources poured in from over thirteen nations, a new 25-bed hospital was built. Various programs were started, including vaccination programs, nursing education and the so called TBA program- Traditional Birth Attending- where the basics of labor and delivery were taught thereby reducing the maternal mortality rate from 5% to 2%. Close records were kept to document the decline in incidence of tetanus, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Transportation for supplies progressed from a bicycle to a Suzuki truck. During these years he was instrumental in obtaining training for 10 obstetricians, 2 pediatricians, 2 anesthesiologists and 2 OB technicians.
In 1990 the Norwegian Committee moved the whole operation to Jalalabad in Afghanistan. By that time over 250 thousand people had been treated. By 1997, the Taliban regime gained control of the country. Dr Mo was not allowed to cross the border into Afghanistan. It is not known as to what the fate of the hospital currently is. Since then Dr Mo has joined hands with the Shuhada organization(www.shuhada.org), an entity that has long been involved in the healthcare of Afghan refugees. He has been making annual trips to Pakistan, working long hours to make a difference in the lives of Afghan refugee women.
In 1992, the Florida Medical Association bestowed on him the Harold S. Strasser MD, Good Samaritan Award for his humanitarian efforts and selfless devotion. Please join me in honoring this very special physician.
Neel Karnani, MD, Associate Editor
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