Lithuanian gynecologist told about the horrors of work in Dubai
'01.02.2019'
Source: open.lv
“I show with signs that it’s not allowed,” says Lithuanian Lina Skutaite-Chaudhary, explaining the attitude in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to unmarried women’s pregnancy. The doctor is now working as a gynecologist-obstetrician in Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates has surprised the world more than once with its religion-based laws, and the Lithuanian doctor admits that it is necessary to get used to the fact that elderly mothers are taken to a gynecologist by their sons. Lina Skutaite-Chaudhary told about her experience in medicine in Dubai to the program “(Not) emigrants” of the Lithuanian television LRT, writes open.lv.
Dr. Lina 10 years ago she herself wanted to work as a doctor in the UAE. It would seem a respected and wonderful profession. But in the Middle East, gynecology has a different attitude.
“In this country, the obstetrician-gynecologist is one of the most dangerous professions. I deliberately use the word "dangerous". Medical errors are impossible here. All of us, obstetricians, obstetricians and other surgical-related doctors, working on this land, always carry our passport and a ticket back home, and we do not keep money in a bank account, ”says the Lithuanian doctor.
She admitted that taking delivery, operating on patients, conducting countless other procedures, she risks every day, knowing that at any moment her good life in the Emirates can end. That is what happened to some of her colleagues.
If something went wrong - for example, a patient's medical condition, then the doctor is first closed the border, then the bank account is blocked, then the license is suspended - until it becomes clear what happened, Skutaite-Chaudhary reports. According to her, she was recently called by an American colleague from the airport, stating that she was leaving and would never return, so she asked Lina to sell her car. Realizing that problems were beginning at work, Lina's colleague immediately got on the plane and went home.
10 years ago, it seemed like a fabulous offer to go to Dubai, although Lina left her husband in Lithuania, business, at home, 4 dogs and a cat, her son was in 12 grade.
The Emirates is a promised land for people born throughout Asia: Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians come there in the hope of a better life, and the Lithuanian doctor does not hide the fact that she had to endure a culture shock when she started working in Dubai.
Lina's motivation was not money, but international experience. The gynecologist also had to face a language barrier - the society in Dubai is multinational, everyone speaks their own version of English. In addition, patients from different countries understand their body and its physiology in their own way, so Lina had to diplomatically get out of situations so as not to anger patients and their husbands, listening to unexpected questions and absurd requests that do not always correspond to modern medicine.
After several years spent in Abu Dhabi, the doctor felt devastation and wanted to return to Lithuania. The boss offered to transfer her to Dubai, and there she found it easier to work.
Several years ago, a Lithuanian woman began to live in a spacious apartment in the prestigious GLP district, and in the house opposite she bought her two sons an apartment. According to the doctor, renting an apartment is very expensive, it is more profitable to buy. She lives in a luxurious European region and rhetorically declares: "I am a doctor, why do I need to live badly?"
Shutaite-Chaudhary works, basically, with the original local wealthy population, and it is with them that you need to be especially careful - every touch of a doctor to the wives, mothers and daughters of sheikhs should be extremely thoughtful.
Lina's acquaintance, a gynecologist from Sweden, worked in the UAE for 17 years, and when the newborn died, she was forced to pay $ 5 million - part of the compensation was covered by the hospital, part - by the insurance company, and she had to pay $ 2 million. Lina says her license is now insured for $ 3 million, but that won't be enough in case of misfortune.
At the same time, the salaries of doctors in the UAE are motivating, and the doctor himself is a respected member of society.
Lina says that a woman goes to an appointment with a gynecologist accompanied by a man (father, husband, son), he fully knows what her problem is, she participates in the discussion of a treatment plan, an operation.
The gynecologist warns that regarding pregnancy in this country has its own laws, and, having violated them, a woman may end up in prison. For example, if a couple is not married, pregnancy is out of the question.
“Patients come, and I show them with signs that it is impossible. Sometimes they come for help. I apologize for not being able to help. I can say - yes, you are in a position, fly home on the first plane, ”says the gynecologist, because in Abu Dhabi an unmarried pregnant woman is considered a criminal, which the doctor must report to the police.
Still in this country, women are punished, not sympathy and rights, says Lina. A raped girl can easily end up in prison. A Lithuanian doctor told about a case in which a US citizen who was pregnant without a husband and who had turned to Lina with heavy bleeding was also arrested.
