Saqib Noor's Blog

I was recently invited to a global surgical conference in Morocco to describe some of my experiences with neglected surgical disease in Cambodia. Unfortunately I was unable to attend but the organisers were kind enough to accept a video of my Cambodian experiences instead.

I decided to submit a video extract from the book, Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants. I was very happy to get good feedback from the video when it aired on the 11th November 2017 so I have decided to put the video online....

Dearest Readers,

Human history is blighted by periods of disastrous intolerance towards each other, borne out of fear and misunderstanding, resulting in anger, violence and war. Although these intolerances frequently simmer under the skin of our societies, they are often bought to boiling point by powerful rhetoric by those wishing to gain more by dividing people. In current times, these feelings have again been brought to the surface, slowly being fuelled by leaders speaking and tweeting to sto...

I was very fortunate to discover another book review for “Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants”  that was posted a few weeks ago on the book review blog, “Books are my obsession”. It is a short and sweet review and I am very thankful to Zara for posting it. Her words are extremely encouraging to me. Please take the opportunity to visit her site for more book reviews, I have copied the book review here, but the full review can be found below!

Review from Zara:

This is a very emotional book and...

Dearest readers,

Last night I sat alone in a midnight blur. I was surprised to find myself silently crying, somewhat despairing at the thought of a patient I had met earlier in the day. There was a sadness within me I had not felt for the longest time, an inexplicable heartache that I could not ignore. A woman in her fifties, with striking resemblances to my own mother, was wheeled into our clinic in a makeshift wheelchair, pushed lovingly by her husband, followed by a dedicated grandson, no...

Dearest readers,

Pchum Ben is a national religious festival in Cambodia – a time when families pay their respects to their dearly departed – those relatives that walked the earth before us, those who lived, laughed, cried and prayed in an era when we were not necessarily present. The ceremony involves the offering of food from the living to the dead, as the ghosts of bygone relatives temporarily waken from their perceived existence in the magical worlds beyond ours. Food is prepared and trans...

Dearest readers,

Pchum Ben is a national religious festival in Cambodia – a time when families pay their respects to their dearly departed – those relatives that walked the earth before us, those who lived, laughed, cried and prayed in an era when we were not necessarily present. The ceremony involves the offering of food from the living to the dead, as the ghosts of bygone relatives temporarily waken from their perceived existence in the magical worlds beyond ours. Food is prepared and trans...

I have always felt the most noble aspect of our profession is the mandate we are given to share our knowledge with those learning around us. The encyclopedia of medicine is vast, compiled from the very dawn of time and each healthcare professional has had a unique experience within its complicated chapters, resulting in our own individual interpretations and lessons learnt.

It was with great pleasure that I offered a copy of the book, “Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants” to the medical studen...

Dearest Readers,

Phnom Penh is changing at an incalculable rate. It is evolving so quickly that even from my last visit four years ago, I barely recognise the streets I once shuffled my well-worn sandals through. Now the streets of my old neighbourhood are proudly adorned with a new facade of artistic, stylish restaurants and a collection of boutique coffee shops. Bigger buildings and prime real estate positions are now occupied by logos of branded international chains. Indeed, the very apar...

World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC) is an organisation dedicated to improving the standard of orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery in all developing countries — in the tropics, subtropics, and anywhere where there is a need. It is an organisation I have been involved with in the UK for many years and my visit to Ethiopia in 2016 was part of a dedicated WOC project. I was therefore truly humbled to read a review of my book, “Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants”, published in the most recent World...

In 2010, whilst wallowing in the Pakistan floods, I wrote about the corruption that had seeped into Pakistan – an almost accepted standard of practice embedded within the daily grind of the people’s lives. Since then, I have thought nothing much of this corruption, for in my own mind it had also become routine to hear of such malpractice in the land of my forefathers.

Although not the crux of my letter writing, I was delighted to read a review by David Marx, whose
self titled blog describes...