"Nothing is impossible, it just hasn’t been made possible yet."
A Life’s Ambition
Having dreams and ambitions is the driving force which propels people to improve themselves, and helps to motivate individuals to move forward. Without any dreams or goals, people tend to wander through life aimlessly not knowing what they want out of life. Sometimes, they don’t even know if they are going in the right direction.
Most people feel that their dreams are only some distant illusion, far off in the distance like a mirage. However, I beg to differ. I am a firm believer that if you want something hard enough and long enough and you give 10000%- you can achieve your dreams and make them a reality. My most memorable phrase is:
" Nothing is impossible, it just hasn’t been made possible yet".
For those of you just joining my story here is the Introductory Post
For those joining me again thanks for coming back! To continue, I just want to go over some key facts about diabetes and the extent of the problem here in Qatar.
The Diabetes Pandemic
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) There are currently 452 million diabetic patients worldwide and a further 50% of people undiagnosed. Over 1 million children and adolescents have Type 1 diabetes.
In order to treat something effectively, you must first identify how widespread the problem really is. As part of my research, I produced this short video which shows an extent of the global burden of diabetes and the impact that it has on patients and their limbs.
To give you a brief idea about just how bad diabetes is in the Middle East . Please watch the video. This gives some more key facts about diabetes worldwide and with a particular emphasis on the Middle East.
Qatar and I
I moved over to Qatar in the October of 2002 when I embarked upon what would turn out to be the adventure of a lifetime or rather more apt my life. I quickly began to realize just how bad diabetes was in the country and the region as a whole.
If you stopped to watch the video before proceeding you will know that a whopping 25% of the people in the GCC have diabetes
For those interested in reading a little bit more about the country which I now call home, here is some more information about Qatar.
I have seen Qatar grow from a relatively small country in 2002, but more rather City with its capital being Doha, to a vast home to more than 2 million people now.Qatar and Diabetes
Sadly, I would love to say that everything was smelling roses and that we were doing a good job looking after all of these patients. The current population of Qatar is about 2.6 million people . Even if we take a very conservative figure of 15%, we are still looking at a number of in excess of 390,000 diabetics in Qatar alone. Now given that there is one main government hospital and about 3 main private hospitals and numerous small private clinics, you might be thinking, "What is the problem?" Given the fact that I specialise in limb salvage, and there is only two of us covering all of these potentially life threatening issues with people's legs - I am sure you can begin to see the danger.
In my clinic I see about 80 patients a day, and that does not include the inpatient consultations that are also my responsibility. Some of you may be wondering how on Earth I am able to see all these people. The answer can only be due to a wonderful team of nurses that I have working with me. Without them I would be a sinking ship. This one important lesson life has taught me to appreciate every person, no matter what their role may be. Without the entire team, our success would be limited. We must never undervalue any role.
I always smile when I think of the famous story of President John .F. Kennedy visiting NASA in 1961. During the tour he introduced himself to a janitor mopping the floor. The President asked the Janitor what he was doing, to which the janitor responded: " I am putting a man on the moon"
It is this vision and foresight that really amazes and inspires me in what I do everyday. No matter your role, we all play a part in the bigger picture. My part is trying desperately to keep people's legs firmly attached to their bodies.
I have a massive caseload and the caseload for the endocrinologists who are responsible for controlling the patients blood sugars is just as daunting as mine. For a long time the average waiting time for a follow up appointment with the endocrinologist was about 9 months. Yes you read that correctly 9 months! However sadly on a lift ride to see some inpatients last week, I found out it has actually deteriorated in this interim period and now its a whopping 1 year and 1 month (13months) for a follow up appointment!!!. Yet again ( I'm sure you're asking yourself lots of questions in this post) how can anyone manage their blood sugar if they can only see their doctor once every year? Exactly. Why do you think I am so busy? They can't!! and this is half the battle.
So i guess that leaves me with two choices; accept this as it is, and carry on doing what I am doing, or challenge the convention and see what else can be done. In my next part I'll fill you in on what I decided to do
I'm literally watching my dream being built one brick at a time.
It would be my honor if you would join me on this exciting journey.I'm so excited to share where my passion for helping patients has taken me, and just how far along I am in achieving my life’s ambition.