Students from the Armed Forces College of Medicine in Egypt gained their first clinical experience by spending the summer at Imperial College London.

Ten students spent four weeks carrying out placements with consultants across various hospitals within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

The cadets, who have completed their third year of training, gained clinical experience with departments including emergency surgery, hepatobiliary and anaesthetics.

The progamme was coordinated by the Faculty of Medicine's Collaborative Partnerships Office.

Mona El-Bahrawy, Professor of Practice (Histopathology) at Imperial, who initiated the first programme between Imperial and AFCM in 2018, said the cadets had the opportunity at Imperial to “meet world class professionals in every medical speciality, supportive disciplines and sciences as well as research”.

Professor El-Bahrawy said: “The cadets have gained knowledge about the ethos and the culture of service delivery in the British NHS. This is a most valuable and important thing for them to take back home.”

Professor El-Bahrawy added: “This programme has strengthened the relationship between Imperial and AFCM, and is a foundation for further collaborations both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.”

First clinical experience

Moetaz Sherif, spent his placement at the department of hepatobiliary at Hammersmith Hospital and Emergency and Trauma at St Mary’s.

Moetaz said: “I was keen to come to Imperial because of its reputation and heritage, it is ranked as one of the best universities in the world. 

“This was my first clinical experience and it was very positive - I have learned a lot, especially in how teams handle emergency situations.

"It was also nice to spend time in London - surrounded by museums and its history."

Improving communication skills 

Saifeldeen Wahba, was at Charing Cross learning about anaesthetics and St Mary’s spending time on lower gastrointestinal surgery.

Saif said: “There were quite a lot of things to learn and I got to meet lots of people, improve my communication skills and understand how programmes are different between Egypt and the UK.

"The doctors also have to know how to teach which is really important and were always happy to help teach me things. It’s a really important skill and something I will try and implement.

"It was exciting to spend time in London – I tried to live like a Londoner, and went to the theatres and musicals.

"I would recommend the placement, the exposure is very good and observing the patient-doctor relationships were really interesting.”

Benefiting healthcare in Egypt

Mohamed Essam Ahmed Ibrahim also spent time in lower gastrointestinal surgery at St Mary’s and emergency surgery at Charing Cross. 

He said: “It’s very important to have this experience. The consultant in emergency surgery was very helpful and explained the scans to me.

"The British healthcare system is very good and one of my ambitions is to improve the service in Egypt. When I return I will write reports about what I observed here which can benefit our medical system in Egypt.

“I was very excited to come to Imperial - I had heard about it as a world top ten and very international university that makes partnerships with others all over the world.”