Advanced medicine and modern Iraq: Dr Abdul-Mujib and the rise and fall of Iraqi surgical capacities

Continuing with our series acknowledging the recollections of Iraqis of their experiences in the country, we present Dr Abdul-Mujib Cadili. Following an examination of the founding of the Iraqi Royal Medical College (IRMC) and its standing as the first such Institution in Iraq, Dr Cadili recounts his own experience of attending the programme from 1968 to 1974 – from recollections of his time at IRMC through residency, military service and emergency surgeries in the internecine wars of 1970s’ Kurdistan, before working in the UAE and the United Kingdom in an effort to advance his training before settling in the United Kingdom to work as a surgeon and begin his family with his wife Sawsan. Returning to Iraq Cadili founded the Al-Rafidain hospital in Baghdad where the first kidney and gall bladder surgeries in Iraq were performed, as well as the (smuggled!) introduction of a laparoscopic machine under the sanctions regime. Cadili describes meeting with Saddam Hussein, service in the Iran–Iraq War, before suffering through the 1991 Gulf War, which was launched by the US-led coalition in 1991. After run-ins with Ba’thist superiors Cadili left Iraq and re-started his surgical career following immigration to Canada in 1997. Cadili found a calling through medicine, remains a leading surgeon in his adopted country and stands out as a standard bearer for Iraqi medicine. An Iraqi surgeon currently living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, recalls attending a lecture Dr Cadili gave in Baghdad around 1995. Dr Cadili was presenting the results of his first 300 cases of laparoscopic surgery and the Calgary-based Iraqi surgeon was one of about 200 physicians attending the talk in Baghdad. He remembered how all in attendance were dazzled by Dr Cadili’s knowledge and ambition. They were amazed at how a lone surgeon had managed to revolutionize surgeries while under economic embargo, travel restrictions and the many other challenges imposed on Iraqis. He saw Dr Cadili as a glimmer of light in the darkness for a new generation of doctors. We are pleased to present Dr Cadili’s recollections in IJCIS.