Dr Ikram Musa Jemal is a person of few words for she strongly believes in serving those at the receiving end; and medical profession offers you the way to treat thousands battling with different diseases. She gets solace and satisfaction in helping poor in particular who needs treatment but can’t afford the cost.
Dr Ikram hails from Karakore, Addis Ababa, her father Musa Jemal is a merchant and mother, Ajaiba Keyredin, housewife; of 4 siblings (3 brothers & 1 sister), she is the eldest. And having completed 12th grader from Addis Ababa-based Keftegna 23 Preparatory School, she was advised to pursue medicine. Click here to see the pictures
And now, she excelled in her studies by bagging 3.72 CGPA and has been adjudged second among 140 and the first among 37 female doctors. She aspires to pursue Master in internal medicine or probably in dermatology.
Subjects dear to her, she said, during clinical attachment I loved internal medicine, which has a broader dimension and I enjoyed its pure science. On other hand, pediatrics has been tough for me because here you deal with kids who do not clearly express their feelings; so, when you nurse them, you don’t know what’s happening; therefore, I hesitate to pursue pediatrics.
Being benevolent, sharing unique experience during her internship, she said, I have realized that when you study medicine you have to be kind. In the hospital, poor people would flock and generally most of them won’t have money and want to be treated, so you just can’t shoo them away; you got to be humane. On many occasions I had to pay marginal cost for few and it gave me immense satisfaction.
Revealing ground reality, she said, Arba Minch General Hospital lacks advanced medical equipment like cardiogram, medicines, CT-Scan, MRI, etc. but I have had good experience and exposure, but couldn’t see those suffering from terminal disease like cancer, stroke, malnutrition, infectious, non-infectious and trauma cases abound in this part of Ethiopia.
Sharing study plans, she said, actually our schedule is very tight, theory followed by practice, we have to squeeze in some time to revise what we learnt and practice in the hospital. Regularly, I would study for two hours and keep the tabs on everything I was involved in.
In the absence of equipment like MRI or CT-Scan you have to decide which patient needs what and when you are taught in such a trying conditions, I feel you subliminally tend to develop endurance that help you survive and serve people in any sort of challenging circumstances. And our senior teachers are devoted and had been very professional with us that made me what I am today, she added.
Exhorting newcomers and those desiring to be good doctors, she said, you need to have more exposure for at times text doesn’t explain all in a way what we learn while treating a patient in the hospital; for me it’s a living laboratory that help us to understand and perceive complications in a more better way. We must also be attentive to senior teachers because experience does matters a lot.
Attributing the credit of her success, she said, had it not been to God and my caring parents, I wouldn’t have been what I am today. Her hobby is to read religious books and spend times with good friends.
(Corporate Communication Directorate)