Surgeon
URGENTLY NEEDED PROFILE
What does a surgeon do at Doctors Without Borders?
As a surgeon working for Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), you may be part of an emergency team providing assistance to people wounded due to armed conflict or natural disasters. Our surgical projects deliver high-quality standardised care (protocols, hygiene, technical platform and medicinal products) and, despite the unstable or remote settings in which we work, Doctors Without Borders provides the appropriate expatriate and local human resources to ensure the provision of high-quality care for patients.
Alternatively, you may be part of a long-term surgical programme, providing medical care to communities deprived of a functioning healthcare system. Regardless of the situation, responsibilities include surgery (general, orthopaedic, trauma, and potentially plastics depending on the project context) and surgical needs assessment and local staff training.
Some responsibilities of a surgeon may include:
- Undertake pre-operative consultations, evaluating the surgical risks with the anaesthetist, and obtaining the patient’s signed consent to operate
- Carry out emergency and scheduled surgical interventions
- Provide post-operative clinical care and carry out ward rounds (in collaboration with the anaesthetist, operating theatre nurse and ward staff)
- Coordinate the implementation of Doctors Without Borders clinical policies, tools, guidelines and protocols
- Organise the hospital emergency disaster response plan and run practice drills
- Manage, train and supervise the surgical team
- Ashok Kannan, surgeon from Malaysia
- "I'm looking at the board. The board has the number of patients listed.
"And the board is not adequate for all the names of all the patients that we have within our hospital capacity. We try and try, and the aneaesthetist asked me, "What are you thinking about?" And I said, "I'm thinking about how we will finish operating on all these patients in one day."
"We had this lady who had had two or three previous caesarean sections. She was in active labor, and we had no choice but to operate. It was very challenging. Just so you know, I am a surgeon. I am not an obstetrician. I don't do orthopedics. I don't deliver babies. But we don't always have the luxury of having specialized surgeons in a project. So I had to learn. And I'm proud to say that I delivered 33 babies during my two months in the project for Doctors Without Borders. And it was an experience, to be honest."
Requirements
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Compliance with Essential Criteria
- Certified Surgeon, who has attained Fellowship
- Ability to perform general surgery including Caesarean sections.
Some experience in A&E and orthopedics is desirable (for Orthopaedic Surgeon) - Valid degree and current license
- Ability to work with limited resources
- Willingness to work in unstable environments
- Available to work infield for 8 - 12 weeks (at least for the first placement; subsequent placements can be shorter, depending on context)
- Ability to work autonomously in basic conditions with limited materials and resources
- Adhere to our Behavioral Commitments and MSF Charter.
Note regarding availability and notice period
- Available at short notice (in emergencies we may need surgeons to leave within 24 to 48 hours)
- Due to the emergency nature of many of our projects, surgeons are often needed at very short notice. However, for some longer-term projects, it may be possible to confirm a placement well in advance. If you are genuinely interested to work with us but have concerns regarding the period of notice you may require, we encourage you to apply. Your individual circumstances can be discussed as part of the interview process.
Join our team
Start your application process to join our team. You will be directed to the MSF Hong Kong recruitment website to submit your application.