Vector Volume 11 Issue 2 - 2017

A Walk to Remember
[Book review]
Anna Marie Plant
Anna Marie Plant is a Medical student at the University of Sydney with a
strong interest in Global Health. She wishes to pursue a career in surgery
with a humanitarian focus and work for an organisation such as Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) to address the global shortage of safe surgical care,
especially in orthopaedics and trauma.
Walking Free
by A/Prof Munjed Al Muderis with
Patrick Weaver.
p 336. Allen & Unwin. $22.99
Despite our common motivations and
dedication to learning, the journey of each
medical student is unique. Despite managing
intense study loads, we probably cannot
imagine the added stress of living under a
brutal dictatorship, as was the experience of
Associate Professor Munjed Al Muderis. He
began his Medical studies at Basra University
in southern Iraq, near the Kuwaiti border that
former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s
forces had invaded a month prior. It was clear
from the outset that A/Prof Al Muderis’ journey
was never going to be straightforward.
awoken the following morning to the sound
of planes overhead and explosions nearby;
it was the 17th of January 1991 and the
commencement of Operation Desert Storm.
After he tended to civilian casualties at his
teaching hospital, he made the journey along
the war-ravaged Western highway, and passed
the Imam Ali Air Base that was under active
airstrikes by the US-led coalition, to Baghdad.
Al Muderis’ gripping vignette ensures that one
will never again complain about long flights or
drives to visit family.
Fast forward and the young Dr Al Muderis
found himself in one of the worst imaginable
situations: he had to choose between honouring
the Hippocratic Oath by refusing to remove the
ears of army deserters, or facing death at the
hands of Saddam’s military police. For most
of us this is a nightmare situation but sadly it
is the reality for some healthcare workers in
unstable geopolitical environments.
“the young Dr Al Muderis found himself
in one of the worst imaginable situations:
he had to choose between honouring the
Hippocratic Oath by refusing to remove
the ears of army deserters, or facing
death at the hands of Saddam’s military
police”
Midway through his first year of medical
school, his parents called one evening and
implored him to return home to safety. He was
After the journey to Australia, his stay in
Curtin Detention Centre would prove another
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