COVID-19: Meet the Syrian doctor who left behind the bombings at a hospital in Aleppo for the UK coronavirus frontline | UK News

Amid gunfire and airstrikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a young final-year medical student learned to treat war wounds.

In 2012, as the Battle of Aleppo raged, Mohamed Kajouj had to learn quickly.

He had no idea then that this high pressure training would one day help the UK in its fight against COVID-19[female[feminine.

“It was completely different from what you read in the textbooks,” he told Sky News, describing some of the injuries he’s encountered. Aleppo.

“I remember someone with a remarkable skull fracture, a remarkable part of his brain on the outside, he was choking and vomiting.”

The 31-year-old has completed medical school, keeping his job at the trauma hospital a secret from his family.

But the situation worsened and the Dar al Shifa hospital where he worked was regularly bombed.

On November 21, 2012, the building was leveled.

Dr Kajouj’s best friend was among the colleagues he lost that day.

“I will never forget how I felt when I realized he died. We grew up together, we studied together at school, we lived together,” he said.

“It will stay on my mind forever. It took over five hours to start pulling people out of the rubble. We couldn’t make anyone alive, they were all dead. More than 30 people.”

As about 70% of SyriaHealth professionals, Dr Kajouj left his country of origin for security reasons.

The ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor ended up in Britain where he is now on another front line: in the emergency room in York University Hospital.