Share your thoughts and experiences practicing in a low-resourced environment
It's been 15 years since I first came to work at the Cancer Diseases Hospital. This journey has been filled with a lot of highs and lows, but looking back, I realize that who I am today has been shaped by my experience here.
One would ask, how come I am still in Zambia? Why didn't I go to work abroad? Can I honestly say that it is a joy to work in a place where I witness so much suffering and dying? My honest answer is that it has in no way been easy and I have contemplated leaving - not necessarily to go and work abroad, but just to leave and try something else.
At some point during my career, I realized that mine was a higher calling. I have been called to be a Doctor. When I share my story of how I became a Doctor or even an Oncologist, one would think that there was no way this could have happened unless a greater power was working in the background, aligning the stars and opening doors that I just had to walk through (I did resist most of the time).
So here I am, now heading the Section of Radiation and Clinical Oncology at the only radiotherapy facility in the country.
I have always believed in doing my best every time and I have this tendency of not ever giving up. So when in the early years of my practice I found a weak multidisciplinary approach to managing cancer patients; I took the challenge of establishing MDTs personally.
Many years later we have several MDTs in different disciplines.
I sometimes describe myself as having OCD ... I like everything to be perfect. I can sit and rearrange patient case files. I tease the trainees and say that I can only see things well if they follow some sort of logic- so I am known to arrange files and my desk in the clinic.
I have walked the tough cancer journey with so many and I have learned along the way that being compassionate is far better than remembering the signal transduction pathway and mechanism of action of the many drugs that we use to treat cancer. When you take the time to listen to the patient and appreciate their fears, their aspirations, and the devastation they face with a cancer diagnosis, you become patient, you don't do things in a hurry, and you appreciate your own life.
My niece once asked me if I was a doctor or not. After many trips abroad to attend meetings, I got it. I smiled and said, ''At my very core, I am a clinician'', but in my field which was new in Zambia, I had to learn some other skills- strategic planning, and project management, among others. I serve on the African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development, and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA), where I am the current Chair of the Partnership Building, and Resources Mobilization Committee (PBRMC). This has only been possible because I work at the Cancer Hospital.
I love my job and I love working at the Cancer Diseases Hospital. Even now, when we are facing difficulties with a lack of radiotherapy, I know that things will be okay. It has been difficult the last four years, but I still find it a joy to work at the Hospital.
My name is Catherine Mwaba
I am a Radiation and Clinical Oncologist and cancer advocate who provides care to cancer patients to help prolong and improve the quality of their lives.