I was a final year, on my last few months of 4th year of OBGYN residency, in Addis Ababa University College of Health Science at Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
I started practicing obstetrics and Gynecology residency after I took written and oral examination based on the criteria of the national policy and department curriculum.
I don’t want to mention the ups, downs and sleepless nights in Obstetrics and Gynecology for health professionals.
I have had left eye strabismus since childhood but had never any functional visual problem on my day to day activities.
On my stay of 4 years of practicing and serving, I have done hundreds of major surgeries and minor procedures and there was no any problem or complications that occurred due to my visual problem.
One day, when I was doing my routing activity I was called and given a paper to have ophthalmologic evaluations. The reason was “since you are going to be graduated and doing your activity independently”. At that time I and some of my instructors were surprised since we thought that there was no any problem that needs optalmologic evaluation.
I was evaluated by ophthalmologist continued my activities eventhough I was not told about the finding at that time.
When it was about 2 month left to finish my practice, by the time I was waiting my research comment from my advisor for thesis defence for graduation, I was informed by text that I was terminated from the programme of OBGYN.
Can you imagine the feeling when you were told to be terminated from your dream job with unknown reason?
What ever the case, I communicated them about the reason behind and they told me that the reason I was terminated was because of visual problem was told that I would not be graduated with this finding and the finding was the following.
Left eye Esotropia (Left eye deviation)
Stereopsis problem (depth perception problem)
Red-Green color blindness (Color deficit actually “color blindness” is the old term and misnomer since color blind peoples are not totally color blind)
With visual acuity of 6/6 and 6/9
After that፡
1st I tried to calm down myself to deal with this miracle. And then I asked my self weather these problems were affecting me during my activities especially during operations. But I couldn’t get any challenge from my experience and even I have never thought that this strabismus has any effect in my career since it occurred since childhood and never experienced any visual difficulty during procedures or any daily activity.
2nd I asked that ophthalmologist about its conclusions and recommendations based on his findings whether it would prevent me from my career or not,and he answered as he was not sure weather know about that since he didn’t know the detail about Gynecology and surgery other than listing the ophthalmic findings.
3rd, I tried to see references and litratures regarding those finding and selection of careers. No literature says that these problems prevent one from being a surgeon or Obstetrics and Gynecologist.
Even there are color blind Pathologists, Ophthalmologists, Cardiothoracic surgeons. You know that these specialization needs more visual perfection than Obstetrics and Gynecology and Surgery.
Regarding decreased depth perception for surgery there is no contraindication for surgeons for example you can see a research done at London teaching hospitals which was published in 2015 and done in 12 surgical specialities (I said 12 surgical specialties) of 66 surgeons that even 4 surgeons of which 3 are consultants had no measurable depth perception and concludes that there is no need to screen for stereopsis (depth perception) to recruit surgical residents.
Why I said this.
1. I asked them the clinical interpretation of the ophthalmic finding remember that I started my journey as a job or profession, not for cosmotic compitence.
Then the GYN side told me that if the Ophtha side allowed you, you can. Then I started to appeal and then they said that there was complications.
I asked them to tell me what specific complications were happened during procedure. But they were not willing. Any ways “Ophthalmic finding now changed to complications”.
Then I asked my self could it be fabricated complication? Because am not going to revise for physician how you can say that “one is the cause for the other”. ለአንድ ፔሽንት Ceftriaxone ሰጥተህ እንበልና ባይሻለው “ጉድ ጉድ ከዛሬ ጀምሮ Ceftriaxone ስለማያድን Ceftriaxone እንዳትጠቀሙ” ልትል ነው?
2. I beg them to show me or tell me any scientific evidence than subjective opinion that whether these optic finding prevent one from bieng a surgeon or Gynecologist. No one told (showed) me.The reason is still clear, THERE WAS NO
3. I beg them to show many of my evidences that these finding don’t prevent one from being a surgeon or Gynecologist… No one was volunteer, Because THERE WERE AMPLES OF EVIDENCES.
4. I beg them to observe me with procedures to check that whether I had visual difficulty or not.. No one was volunteer. Because whether you dont want to confront some one or don’t want to say that we were lying for 4 years and are telling truth to day (Because either of the two should be true)
5. Even I brought a medical certificate from the same government hospital by Ophthalmologists that clearly states that I can do and continue my job… They couldn’t accept it. The reason was “you are allowed to be evaluated by our preference not by yours.”
የጃንሆይ ጨዋታ ገጥሟችሁ ያውቃል? በቃ እሱ እሱ ጨዋታ። እውነት ይሁን አባባል ባላዉቅም አንድ የሚባል አባባል አለ።
ጃን ሆይ ከምስለኒያቸው ጋር አንበሳና ዘውድ ይጫወታሉ አሉ ከዛ እኔ አንበሳ አንተ ዘውድ ብለው ጨዋታዉን ይቀጥሉና ሳንቲሟን ወደላይ ወርወረው ሲጥሏት አንበሳ ትሆናለች።
ጃን ሆይ “አዎ በላሁህ” ይሉትና 2ኛውን ጨዋታ ይቀጥላሉ። አሁን ደሞ ሳንቲሟ ስትወድቅ ዘውድ ትሆናለች። ምስለኔው በላሁ ብሎ ሰፍ ሲል ጃንሆይ ግን ዘና ብለው “አሁንም በላዉህ”ይሉታል ።
ምስለኔውም ያው ‘ጃንሆይ ስለማይሳሳቱ ‘ እንደዛ ያሉት የጨዋታውን ህግ ረስተው መስሎት ጨዋታውን የጀመርነው እኮ እርስዎ አንበዛ እኔ ዘውድ ብዬ ነው ይላቸዋል። ጃንሆም ፈታ ብለው “እኮ አንበሳም እኛ ዘውድም እኛ” ይሉታል ሰውየውም መናደድ ስለማይፈቀድለት በውስጡ ብቻ ተናዶ እንዴ ጃንሆይ ታዲያ እኔ ትክክል የምሆነው መቼ ነው ይላቸዋል “ሳንቲሟ ከቆመች ” አሉ ይባላል ።’
When I was appealing and ask them to convince me with evidences than personal opinion the reply was “እንግዲህ እዉነታ ሊኖርህ ይችላል ግን….”…better not to mention the last words.
Many many things to say and remember that this is a tertiary hospital where all scientific evidences, realities and moralities are…
እሺ ምን ማሳመኛ ነበር የምትፈልጉት ?
1. ምንም እንደማይከለክለኝ ነገርኳችሁ… እሱንም ተውት
2. የሌላ ሃገር ፔፐርና ተሞክሮም አሳየኋችሁ… እሺ እሱንም ተውት
3. የተባለው የምር አሳማኝ ከሆነ ኒውትራል የሆኑ ባለሙያዎች ይፈትኑኝ አልኳችሁ … እሺ እሱንም ተውት
4. ቀዶ ህክምና ሰርቼ ላሳያችሁ እንዳልላችሁም 1 ጊዜ ፣ 2 ጊዜ ፣ 10 ጊዜ ወይም 50 ጊዜ ሳይሆን 100 ፣ 200 ፣ 300 ፣ ጊዜ አይታችኋል… እሺ እሱንም ተውት
5. በግልፅና ባጭር ቋንቋ የተፃፈ በራሳችሁ (በራሳችን) መንግስት ሆስፒታል ስፔሻሊስት ባለሙያ የተፃፈ የህክምና ማስረጃም አሳየኋችሁ።
የናንተ መልስ ግን “ሳንቲሟ ስትቆም” ሆነ
ምናልባት ሳንቲሟን አቁሜ ሲላላሳየኋችሁ በጣም ይቅርታ እሱ የኔ ስህተት ነው።
What ever what happened to me, SPECIAL THANKS TO:
1.The Almighty GOD who gave me the strength
2. Those of my medical colleagues who lost your dream due to unfair judgement and decision. Because I learned a lot from your bad history.
3. Ophthalmologists who mentioned the truth than worrying about personal relationship. That’s what I understand from my Ethics class. What ever your relationship is to some one you have to abide by this oath once you are a medical Doctor.
4. Ad hoc committee who tried your best to see the case neutrally even though…
5. My lovely friends who have been stressed, worried my worry day and night
6. Half thanks goes to some Obstetrician and Gynecologists who feel sorry for that but failed to confront the truth. I understand your challege but responsibility and humanity needs challenging the challenges.
NB: Medical history and our next generation will laugh out when they know that this happened in 21st century.
Dr. Tazebachew Wudie
