BY SGT. DAVID DOBRYDNEY/U.S. AIR FORCE
Even in the midst of conflict, it is important to keep an eye on the future. That’s why Afghan doctors and nurses are taking time from their critical daily tasks to be part of the Afghan Trauma Mentorship Program at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital.
“We’ve learned things we have not seen before that we will bring back to our hospitals,” said 1st Lt. Dr. Farooq Azam, an ear, nose and throat surgeon with the Afghan National Police.
The classes, which have trained more than 40 Afghan doctors and nurses to date, include students selected from Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) medical facilities.“The goal is to train Afghan health care providers to be able to operate using the latest technology and methods … so they are able to provide the best health care possible for their countrymen,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Claudia Niemiec, a critical care nurse who helps run the program.
Over the course of three weeks, students are immersed in every aspect of modern hospital care, from receiving a trauma patient to operating room techniques. “Physicians we’ve had in the past have returned to their own hospitals and told their colleagues this would be beneficial to attend,” Niemiec said.
Dr. Abdullah Fahim, the hospital’s medical and cultural advisor, works with the ANSF to bring military doctors and nurses into the program. “All these security sections have their own medical facilities and their own physicians,” Fahim said. “We have to train all of them so they will be independent to take care of their own wounded warriors and trauma patients.”