DR. JOHN HESHMAT – PASSION IS PRICELESS

My name is Dr. John Heshmat. I’m an Infectious Disease Pharmacist, currently a  Hospital Pharmacist at the Coptic Mission Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.

While I was a student, I worked in a community pharmacy in Cairo. After graduation from the Faculty of Pharmacy in Egypt, I worked as a Community Pharmacist. My career grew from there as a staff Pharmacist and a director of the pharmacy. I then took a position as a Hospital Pharmacist at the Coptic Mission Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2019, I traveled to Congo (DRC) as a Mission Co-ordinator to build the first Coptic hospital in DRC. Then I came back to Nairobi and I’m now with Coptic Hope Clinic for Infectious Diseases as an Infectious Disease Pharmacist.

My responsibilities are to aid in the research and prevention of infectious disease, monitor patients with infectious disease, and conduct trials for medications designed to fight infectious disease. I have duties like designing and implementing drug regimens, educating others in the proper use of antimicrobial agents, and assisting hospitals and medical facilities in the monitoring and review of patient culture results. I have direct access to patients to offer consultations that focus on their disease and symptoms, treatment plans, and monitoring of their condition.

Why do I like being an infectious disease pharmacist?

As an infectious disease clinical pharmacist, I have been given a fantastic opportunity to serve patient populations that are often stigmatized, even within health systems. I love being able to leverage my passion for advocacy and improving local care and access to therapies and services.

I also have access to a large multidisciplinary group of highly skilled and caring infectious disease doctors and social workers across Coptic Hope center and many partner health systems. We work together as a team to solve complex patient situations and to ensure our programs meet the highest standards.

We see the humanity in our patients and do our best to support them through advocating for access to critical services.

Why Infectious Disease?

• The first experience was about a street orphan child who had heart disease. We found him on the street and we helped him to change his life by joining our children’s home “RAHA kids” which means happy kids in Swahili and providing shelter and education for Orphans and Vulnerable Children(OVC’s) and street kids. By this time, I was a director of this program besides my work as a pharmacist. I noticed that he has a health problem and decided to take him to the hospital. After examination, ECG, and other required tests, we discovered that he needed a mitral valve replacement. I contacted many International Organizations to help this young boy then I got a reply from Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque in Paris, France. The boy traveled to France after searching for his relatives, obtaining their permission, and signing the consent. The operation is performed and he came back to Kenya to continue his life normally and now he is 17 years old.
• The second experience happened one year later when the same French organization called me and asked me to help them organize an emergency surgery for a two years old Burundian boy who was hospitalized in Nairobi after he fainted at the airplane on his way to France. It was a blessing serving this little weak boy who was alone in a strange country and in a very bad situation with a critical life-threatening case. I accepted to take everything in charge including the relation between the French organization and the local doctors, the well-being of the little boy, and the hosting of a member of his family who came from Burundi after 3 days. I faced many challenges in this long-distance situation and I had to find solutions. The French organization gave me the responsibility of deciding this boy’s case. I was between a rock and a hard place, either to send him back to Burundi to die in his mother’s arms or to facilitate heart surgery for him in Kenya. After talking to the local doctors, comparing the results, assessment of the situation, and comparing the risks with the benefits, I decided to choose the operation choice after obtaining his family’s consent. After the surgery, the boy started to return to life by God’s grace, and one week later doctors agreed that he’s able to travel back to his country. I organized with Kenya airways and convinced them that his case is stable and he was able to travel by taking all the required precautions. Once they arrived at the Burundian airport, they sent me a video of his mother and grandmother welcoming their kid and hugging him tightly. It was a pleasure and a great reward to watch this video.

Those two experiences changed my life and I realized that God didn’t bless me with just a good job but he gave me a message to deliver to people that God doesn’t forget anybody.

That is what got me to that decision to be an Infectious Disease Pharmacist as it allows me to reach those people who need support.

I decided to be more involved and more in touch with people who I serve as a missionary pharmacist and find different ways to reach them such as medical camps.

We organize medical camps in Kenya for the benefit of the local communities. These camps are free and open to every member of the local population, regardless of location or background. In all aspects of the camps, we strive to operate with the needs and well-being of the community at the forefront of our minds. The targeted people are (refugees, street families, street children, and women)

Why talk about Financial hardship ?

Financial hardship can prevent patients from taking their medications, which is a challenge I see often in this community. However, other issues arise too that our on-site specialty pharmacy team can address. For example,

1. We arrange home delivery to help those patients who are unable to find a ride to the pharmacy.
2. Linking the clients to programs supporting income generating for their financial sustainability. This way the clients will have an activity to sustain their daily needs instead of depending on the feeding program which may not be sustainable in the long run.
3. As a result of the poor living standard in slums like fire outbreaks which keep consuming the clients belonging including the drugs. We try to provide financial and psychological support to them.
4. Provision of education to the needy clients after assessing the eligibility
5. Treating children and teens for an outdoor activity is a motivation to the children and the youth and also an opportunity for them to learn and have fun as a team.
6. Creating awareness for all the clients to take care of their drugs and avoid cases of stolen drugs for a local brew or selling them due to poverty. Also having the health talks to the young ladies on early sexual engagements and the consequences to their education and health.
7. Empower the clients on their right not to allow stigmatization based on their status.

As a Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) advocate;

My role is to provide immediate medical and psychological assistance to survivors who have been affected by gender-based violence and to assist them in avoiding additional exposure to violence. Both of these components are essential for protecting survivors’ health.

Screening for physical or emotional abuse can be carried out in two ways: in response to situations where signs of abuse are present or routine screening for all clients of a particular service. Routine screening will identify more survivors facing violence than if services wait for survivors to disclose abuse.

This is a dream come true…

I can provide a level of care that I previously wished was available for patients. Interacting with the provider, patient, and doctors to ensure patients can start and stay on medication was always my dream, and now I get to do this every day.

It is always rewarding to be able to make some aspect of a patient’s journey easier. With this patient, I was able to make an impact by not only helping them get vital medications quickly, but also by ensuring their pain was addressed, providing close follow-up on their medication, and helping with side effects. I have enjoyed getting to know them over the years, and being able to see the difference I have made in their treatment has truly been a privilege.

Dear Young Pharmacist, Let passion drive your profession and if you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission. You’ve got what it takes!

DR. JOHN HESHMAT