Humanist

“A cardinal tenet of good healthcare is that it provides not only good evidence-based outcomes, but it enhances autonomy and choice. If the system does not do that, many people, especially those of means, vote with their feet!” Dr. David Ndawula.

I am among those who voted with my feet and chose to travel abroad, to Edinburgh, Scotland, for keyhole surgery to remove a fibroid.

If my recollection serves me right, the surgeon who did the surgery was of Pakistan descent. Obviously, he was then living and working in Edinburgh, likely a citizen of Scotland, the United Kingdom. And he did an amazing job.

It was deliberate on my part to avoid doing my surgery in Uganda, for fear I would end up in the care of false and judgmental quack doctors, for whom we have one too many.

I literally was running away from that type of doctor for my good mental health. Specifically, doctors, who have internalized and believe entitled to deploy vicious gender-based violence against women who assert our reproductive rights.

Often, perhaps, subconsciously, they deploy gender-based violence framed within a blinkered role of a woman, as effectively dramatized in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Yes, doctors who have internalized and believe right stigma against women who choose to delay and or not to bear children. And if such women have the misfortune to be afflicted with an active fibroid, it is their fault, the flawed logic holds.

And so, when such a doctor, recently spewed this flawed logic on social media, I joined the many who called him out.

As a medical tourist and with peace of mind at hospital in Edinburgh waiting for surgery.

Read “On fibroids I speak out against medical misogyny” for more insights.

Dr. Ndawula was my doctor (GP – General Practitioner) in Uganda at the time I was afflicted with a fibroid, before and after surgery. He saw my post on X calling out a doctor who posted vilifying young women for choosing career first instead of child-bearing and warning them they would get a fibroid(s).

I was thrilled when my doctor chose to engage in the conversation and wrote:

“Thank you for sharing your story! I am happy you had a good outcome. I want to elevate this discussion from where it is to a place where we see the power of medical tourism which is everyone’s right. I’m sure all of us have heard of someone who has gone abroad for care! I was pleasantly surprised that India, the go-to place for medical tourism now was not even among the top 10 in healthcare for a long time. Deliberate, consistent efforts with government support have brought them to this place. We can too!” Dr. David Ndawula.

Sadly, among those who should, few are rising up to the challenge to elevate discourse on our flailing public healthcare services provision. It is on my mind as I think of ways to effectively influence for the greater good.

Profiled photo @ with the doctor who performed the surgery in Edinburgh. Photo taken by my sister Asire-Isukali.