A doctor who was also a psychotherapist

Last week, at a ceremony attended by the Swedish royal family and politicians, King Carl Gustaf XVI of Sweden presented the 2018 Nobel Prizes to their winners, which were announced in September.

According to Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Morrow and Dana Strickland won the Physics Award, Frances Arnold, George Smith and Gregory Winter in Chemistry, James Allison and Tasuko Honjo in Medicine, William Nord House in Economics and Paul Romer in Economics.

This year, for the first time, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was not determined. The Swedish Academy will announce this year’s Nobel Laureate in Literature along with next year’s winner. Dennis
Mokogi and Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize winners this year, also received their awards at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. What follows is a brief overview of the life and humanitarian work of Dennis Mukogi.
Dr. Dennis Mukogi, 67, is the founder of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Republic of the Congo. He has dedicated his life to treating women who have suffered sexual and psychological harm as a result of rape. He was initially a pediatrician; But after seeing many women who had suffered physical injuries as a result of rape, she decided to become a gynecologist. He went to Aarres, France to study in this field; He then returned to the Congo to care for these women and to train physicians and nurses in the field. Mokogi decided to become a doctor as a child. His father was a religious missionary. When Dennis was only eight years old, he contracted malaria; But he remembers that his father prayed for his illness in addition to giving him medicine. One day Dennis and his father go to the bedside of a child with malaria. His father is praying for the child. Dennis asks him why he did not give the child medicine. His father says because I am not a doctor. At that moment, Dennis tells his father that I will become a doctor so that in addition to praying, I can give medicine to the patients so that they can be healed sooner.

Dennis returned to the Congo in 1999 after completing his studies in France. In the last three months of 1999 alone, he says, he treated 45 patients with severe bodily harm as a result of rape and repeated torture. These injuries are mainly seen in the genital area and breasts of women, which were done by armed insurgents. Many of these women were raped and sexually abused in front of their families and children.
Dr. Mokogi believes that these crimes do not only destroy the individual; Rather, it regresses a society. After a while, he realizes that the treatment of patients ‘physical injuries alone is not enough and he must also think about the treatment of patients’ psychological injuries. Many of the injured were excluded from their families and communities. She tried to find work for these women and educate the community to welcome them. Dr. Mokogi’s team strives to help the injured psychologically, economically, socially, and even legally. He made great efforts to work in this field at the national and international levels. Military insurgents plotted to kill him and his family; So he left the Congo with his family. After a while, his patients tried to bring him back to the Congo. They wrote a letter to the President of the Congo; But he did not answer. The patients even wrote a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to no avail.

Subsequently, their patients intervened and paid for his return to Congo by selling fruits and vegetables. These women earned less than a dollar a day; But by doing so, they prepared a return ticket for him. This had a profound effect on Dennis and he decided to save the lives of thousands of sick people by risking his life.

“This movement of women made me realize how small I am in front of the big hearts of these people,” she says. When he returned to the Congo, thousands greeted him. They brought him various foods and swore to protect him. “When you see the power and will of these women, you feel that you are nothing compared to this greatness,” says Dennis. These women have suffered a lot; But they continue to try to protect their lives, their families, and even their doctors. These people love life. “It is a great honor for me to care for and treat these women.”

Dr. Reza Saidi Firoozabadi – Transplant Surgeon