allAfrica.com: Kenya: Medic Declined Job Offer Abroad And Saved Citizens (Page 1 of 2)

When Dr Florentius Koech turned down an Australian citizenship offer last year, he was bothered by Kenya's brain drain and wanted to be of more use to his motherland.

Little did he know that his medical skills would desperately be needed sooner than later as he turned to become the "saviour" of those injured during post-election violence in January and early February.

His neurosurgical skills saved the lives of hundreds of patients admitted at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

"I never imagined violence would break out... But I do not regret coming back because I realised that my services are much needed here at home than abroad," said the doctor.

He had flown back into the country from the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne two months before the violence that claimed more than 1,200 lives and displaced 350,000 people erupted.

Being the only neurosurgeon at the referral hospital in Eldoret, the task of operating on hundreds of patients, some with complex injuries, appeared daunting. But the thought that he could not do it never crossed his mind. He took the onerous challenge in his stride, operating for three continuous days with minimal rest between January 1 and 3. At the time, the number of victims was high.

"During that period, I spent a minimum of 20 hours a day in the theatre. But even then, sleep could not come when I remembered the lives that still had to be saved. That was the source of my strength," said the last born in a family of 10.

Since most of the patients had sustained life-threatening injuries, Dr Koech and his team spent as many as seven hours on some patients.

The 38-year-old medic approximates the number of patients he operated on during that time to be more than 100. He just finished operating on the last victim of the violence a fortnight ago.

"Neurosurgery is a demanding field of medicine that requires dedication and patience. But I love it because it is my calling. I am called to save lives," he said.

Ratio below

Dr Koech is one of the 10 practising neurosurgeons in the country, serving a population of 35 million people. This translates to a ratio of one doctor for every 3.5 million people. This falls far below the ratio recommended by World Health Organisation of one doctor for every 200,000 people.

He attributes this deficit to the long years it takes to train a neurosurgeon. "This has made the field very unattractive to most people," he said.

This shortage has occasioned a high demand for the few neurosurgeons available. This is a competition that developing countries like Kenya often lose.

Most trained professionals from developing nations prefer working in the developed countries. They are enticed by better terms of service and availability of research opportunities.

Dr Koech stands out as one of the few highly trained professionals from Kenya who have rejected such offers. Impressed by his surgical skills, the doctors at Alfred Hospital where he had been working since 2005, urged him to take Australian citizenship.

"It was a very enticing proposition that kept me agonising for days on end. But I finally chose to return to Kenya. Who will develop our country if all its best brains move to the developed world?" he asked.

Dr Koech's passion for medicine has its origins from a near-death experience he had in 1980 at the age of 11. "I was pricked by an object while playing football and my leg swelled so much," he said. But two months down the line, the doctors had not made a proper diagnosis.

"I was very sick and was probably going to die," he said. But as he lay hopeless on his death bed at Tenwek Mission Hospital, a visiting missionary diagnosed him with tetanus. "I said to myself that this must be the most intelligent person alive. From that day, I wanted to be as intelligent as that missionary doctor who saved my life," said the last born in a family of 10.

That is a life-long ambition that he has pursued with dedication and perseverance since he began school in 1978 in Cheborgei Primary in Kericho District. In 1983 he was admitted to Tenwek High School for his O-levels education and then proceeded to Alliance High School for his A levels from 1987 to 1988.

From 1989 to I995, he pursued a Bachelor of Medicine degree at University of Nairobi. After doing one year of internship, he was posted to the Kericho District Hospital as a medical officer in charge of surgery.

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