Obstetrician-gynaecologist Jared Watts: Life on assignment

What motivated you to join MSF?

I first learnt about the limited health resources many countries face from my grandmother’s large old bookcase. When we visited in the school holidays, I used to sit in her hallway reading many of her biographies about Australian teachers, nurses and doctors who worked overseas.

At medical school, this interest grew after learning of the many challenges in global health. I was fortunate to go on a short exchange in south-east Asia, and learn more about both the need for working overseas and the learning opportunities from doing so.

When nearing the end of my specialist training as an obstetrician- gynaecologist, I had a look at a few organisations that supported projects overseas. I was instantly attracted to MSF’s principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence, as well as its advocacy and témoignage (bearing witness). MSF for me is an organisation that always aims to provide the best care possible, irrespective of where or who the patient is. After my first assignment, I have seen these principles in action and have never looked back. 

How do you juggle going on assignments with your regular work life in Australia? 

I am very lucky that my Australian employer is very understanding and helpful in allowing me to juggle working within rural Australia and overseas with MSF. I believe they also see the benefits of having me work for both organisations. When I started working within The Kimberley, I had a part-time contract that allowed me time each year to head overseas with MSF. More recently, with many staff shortages in rural areas, while I now work full-time, they have been supportive of me using my long service leave and holidays to go on assignments.

MSF is also very understanding, realising that I cannot go at very short notice with my busy job here. My career managers in MSF often speak to all of the operational centres to see who might have an assignment that fits my availability. My colleagues in Australia are also very helpful, picking up jobs for me such as covering my teaching or helping my research while I am away. Everyone realises the important work of MSF and is happy to support in their own way!

How is the role different when you’re working in Western Australia, and when you’re working on humanitarian projects?

While there are obvious differences, between working in rural Australia and working in areas with MSF projects, there are also many similarities. In both settings there are limited medical resources, staff shortages and environmental challenges, such as flooding and storms. Our patients also share many similarities including higher rates of poor health such as tropical diseases; limited finances; and fewer educational opportunities. Due to these similar circumstances in rural Australia and MSF projects, we have great opportunities for shared learning to help solve and manage these shared problems. 

Can you share a memorable moment from an assignment? 

Each assignment I have undertaken with MSF has been different, with amazing memories and their own unique challenges, I think working in Syria is the assignment I remember most fondly. On that project, we were working in a hospital which had previously been occupied by the Islamic State, to try and rebuild the service. 

The project had everyone from engineers to nurse managers to orthopedic surgeons. Locally hired staff included obstetricians, translators and many midwives. The service grew so quickly as there was such a great need for medical care. I remember walking into the birth suite one day at 8am, and walking out at 8:04 having seen five babies born in those few minutes! The passion, hard work and dedication of all the staff was incredible. To see a service start and then grow so quickly was something I will never forget.

What have you learnt from being on assignment with MSF?

Right from my first assignment, I knew that the learning was going to go both ways. I have learnt so much for my assignments and have hopefully been able to pass that knowledge on as well. While working in other areas, you learn from other international staff as well as from locally hired staff.

In Nigeria, I was honoured to work with 10 locally hired staff members to whom I was able to teach a lot of theory, and in return they taught me a lot about operating on difficult cases. In Australia, complicated operations would be done in big tertiary hospitals with ‘the Professor’ as the surgeon and with a lot of equipment and medications. But in Nigeria, they had to deal with anything that came through the doors and often with limited resources. I learnt some incredible techniques and skills for challenging surgery. 

Since being back in Australia, I have used the skills I learnt in Nigeria when I was caring for a patient who presented with severe bleeding. What those Nigerian doctors taught me has helped to save two women's lives in rural Australia . I have now taught these skills to many other rural Australian doctors to improve the medical care we provide in the Kimberley.

What are some of the biggest challenges of working on MSF projects?

Working with limited services and resources. In rural Australia, there is nearly always the option to transfer a patient to a larger hospital with more resources. But this is often not available in the areas that MSF works. It can be hard to realise that you have come to the limit of what you can offer a patient. MSF is incredible, with a vast global network of experts you can contact and often have the latest portable technology to help, but sometimes that is still not enough. Once again, the Nigerian doctors taught me to ‘focus on the wins’. When I was dwelling on the patients that had not survived that month, those doctors showed me that the morbidity rate was much lower that month than previously, which showed we were progressing. 

What advice would you give to someone who is considering working overseas with MSF? 

Do it! It can seem a little scary and confronting to start with, but the support and assistance MSF gives you is incredible. I still get nervous leading up to leaving Australia for an assignment, but you quickly find like-minded people on arrival and end up with new friends and colleagues for life.

You learn a lot on projects and often don’t want to leave! Things I have done that have helped me get ready include obtaining a post-grad qualification in tropical medicine and global health, reading a few books about global health challenges and politics, and spending some time with an experienced MSF doctor or nurse who can chat through your concerns before going. I also tried to improve my French, but I’m still not sure I can put a sentence together!

If you're interested in learning more about working overseas with MSF, then register for recruitment updates below or read about the obstetrician-gynaecologist job profile.