Students take course in Egypt

By Craig Reed

August was filled with an assortment of opportunities for students to partake in international travel while learning, including one to Mansoura, Egypt.

“We organized this trip as a three-credit  course for second-year students from both MSUCOM and the College of Human Medicine (CHM),” stated Reza Nassiri, assistant dean and director of the Institute of International Health. “During the mornings, students took advantage of clinical shadowing opportunities at Mansoura University Specialty Hospital and attended afternoon lectures that not only deepened their knowledge of many of the tropical diseases they were seeing in the hospital, but also focused on important topics covered in their national board exams.”

A total of eleven MSUCOM students and two CHM students participated in the course.

“We learned lot about the differences between the healthcare system in Egypt versus the United States,” said second-year student Sonia Mahajan. “Going on this trip expanded our knowledge of a lot of diseases we’ve been studying in class, especially diabetes which we saw a lot in the hospitals. We also had the opportunity to visit an obesity clinic which was staffed entirely by female physicians since nearly all of patients were also female.”

“Just to be in a different culture and to see how those differences play out in the hospital gave us a strong introduction into what it means to be a doctor,” said second-year student Rizwana Rahman. “The hospital we were in was a free hospital designed to take care of primarily the poor in the area. The doctors and residents we shadowed took time to explain the conditions of each of their patients, and also took the time to answer any questions we had. It was a very positive experience.”

Exposure to Egyptian culture wasn’t limited to their time in the hospitals. “During our first night in our rooms, we were startled by all the sounds happening at 4:30 a.m. As a Muslim, I realized quickly that it was a nearby mosque’s call to prayer. Calls to prayer occur five times a day, but exactly when they occur during the day varies from region to region. This one happened to be earlier than where I come from,” said Rizwana.

“Most of us had no idea what was going on the first time we heard the call to prayer,” added Sonia, “but we quickly became used to hearing it. During our stay, we had one weekend free to take a trip into Cairo and to visit museums, the pyramids and other ancient cultural sites.

“Overall, we had a wonderful time on the trip,” continued Sonia “For many people, this was their first time outside the United States, and I think many are looking forward to doing something similar in the future.”