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What is a typical day like? What time do you wake up? Are there any shops open to buy food if you have any time to get a lunchbreak or do you bring lunch from home? What time do you go to bed? Do you have any days off?
I am an MD and PhD, with a board degree in neurology. I juggle two careers simultaneously: one as a physician and another as a tutor, mentor, and supervisor to medical students and residents. Despite this busy life, neither career has been steady nor provided a stable, predictable income during the war. For several months after 7 October 2023, we had no internet or mobile connection, and the whole healthcare sector was in a state of free fall under the immense weight of the attacks. My family and I were also displaced, along with an estimated ninety per cent of the population. Subsequently, my private practice was halted, and with the entire population having no safety, no internet, and constantly on the move, fleeing the rolling ground offensive, medical education ceased as well. Therefore, I was virtually unemployed for the first seven months of the war.
Back then, I volunteered as a neurologist at the nearest hospital, but it wasn't easy working with no CT scan and where hundreds of trauma victims were admitted daily, and with the most basic necessities unavailable (think no insulin, no blood supplies, no running water, sanitation, or a white coat for the rounds).
Then, around May 2024, internet and communications began to be restored, and the community began to get used to living under constant danger and instability. Also, the understanding that this war wasn't going to end anytime soon descended, and it became apparent that this unfortunate way of life was going to stick with us for some time. So, efforts were made to reboot the medical education in a state of emergency, delivered part online and part in person for clinical training, but in small groups due to safety issues and the lack of trainers. My clinical duties also became more m