Heron on the Nile
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  El Obied Missing the Doctor Sat 15 Jan 2005  

Sat 15 Jan

On my first day in El Obied, also waiting to see the deputy Vice Chancellor, there was a woman doctor who seemed to be amused at my nonsense. She told me she was Dr Khwater, only one of two woman doctors in El Obied (she may have meant in her speciality). My mind boggled with questions. She has trained in Khartoum, which she claims has not corrupted her, and she sometimes wears a white coat. Being posted in a provincial town you get more chances to do senior tasks but there are fewer people to learn from, there's only so much you can learn from another doctor. We didn't exchange phone numbers but later I wished we had.

Feeling a little lonely (or is it mischievous?) I decide I'll go and look for her. At the hospital one of the guys on the gate leads me through the grounds - an enormous campus of single storey buildings -passing colourfully dressed people sitting on mats. The "waiting rooms" are shady trees and all catering seems to be done outside. We walk through a building site past a couple of children crouching behind non-existent bushes. Finally, one of the buildings is for me. Inside a few waiting women with children eye me nervously, a bit alarmed by my arrival - am I going to jump the queue or steal the doctor?

A lady in a white coat appears and asks if she can help. Dr Khwater will come later. I ask if I can leave my phone number. She disappears and returns with a scrap of paper on which she has written Dr Khwater's number- not exactly what I meant, but useful. I leave her mine and ask her to pass it on.

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