At the age of 35, Ula Bin Himd has already been on the road quite a bit: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and finally France. The itinerary is not that of a backpacking globetrotter, but of a medical student who became a doctor of plastic surgery. Hearing her enthusiasm when she evokes her route, one understands that it was all mapped out. 

“Understanding the human body”

“I chose to go to medical school because when I was little, I loved my science and biology classes,” she says in perfect French. I always wanted to understand the human body, how it works, why people get sick, how drugs work.” The choice of her specialty – plastic surgery -, too, sounds obvious. “For me, it’s the specialty that helps heal not only the body but also the psychological side of patients,” she insists, smiling.

"Healthcare is a very important sector of activity in France."

Ula Bin Himd

After medical studies in Jordan, a glorified doctorate in Egypt, a day school in Lebanon – where she learned the language of Molière – and two years of residency at the King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah, her home town, Ula decided to turn to France where she aspires to refine her experience. But why France? “Health is a very important sector of activity in France, the specialty program has an excellent reputation, especially in plastic surgery,” says the young woman, who also admits to having a particular attraction for France’s “culture and traditions”.

White Plan

Today, Ula is in France. She is even finishing her ninth semester of her specialty at the Necker-Enfants malades hospital in Paris. The Saudi Arabian woman has been shaken by the coronavirus epidemic that has overloaded hospitals in France. “My internship here normally ends at the end of April, but it has been extended for a renewable month in view of the health crisis,” she confirms.

If, at first glance, through her speciality, Ula is not intended to take care of patients suffering from Covid-19, she is nevertheless on the front lines of the fight against the epidemic, thanks to the “white plan”, launched on Friday 6 March 2020 in hospitals in the most affected regions in France, and extended to all hospitals in France on 13 March. “In concrete terms, this means that surgical interns, for example, may find themselves doing the work of an anaesthetist, a nurse or a care assistant, or doing activities different from their usual activities,” explains the doctor.

Tense situation

Unfortunately, the task is not going to be an easy one. “The situation was tense during the second and third weeks of confinement with increased activity at Necker on 6 April with 56 hospitalized patients, 40 of whom were in the adult sector and 16 in pediatrics. 26 patients were hospitalised in medical-surgical intensive care with two cases of death”, lists the intern. In addition to that, there were some equipment problems, according to Ula: “At the beginning of the crisis, the surgical masks disappeared, then we started to get them as we went along.”

"We work without hesitation. We work with our hearts because in the end our goal is to relieve the patients and help them get out of this difficult phase."

Ula Bin Himd

Despite the stress and uncertainty of the crisis, the young woman remains faithful to the Hippocratic oath. “We work without hesitation,” she admits. We work with the heart, because in the end our goal is to heal and relieve the patients and help them through this difficult phase.”