SINGAPORE: While most people instinctively flee from war zones, emergency medicine doctor Lim Chin Siah, 46, is drawn to some of the world’s deadliest conflicts to treat the wounded.
In February, he returned from a three-month stint in Gaza with international medical and humanitarian aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, where he saw widespread devastation and yet indomitable resilience.
One patient still lingers in his mind: a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who lost both parents when their house was bombed.
The boy escaped the bombing with a foot injury caused by falling rubble. What began as a small wound worsened into a severe infection due to a shortage of antibiotics and other factors.
In the end, he underwent multiple amputations, with more of his leg cut away each time, until it was amputated from the middle of his thigh.
A Malaysian and Singapore permanent resident, Dr Lim told The Straits Times: “I remember his resilience. He was still so cheerful, still positive.”
As the war with Israel stretches into its third year, many of his colleagues soldier on despite having lost loved ones, seen their homes destroyed and reduced to living in tents, and endured hunger given the food shortages.
He said: “They don’t complain or whine. They don’t bring their problems to work, and their problems are huge.
“They still try to give me small things, like coffee or tea, even when they have nothing and food is very scarce.”
Once, a bullet whizzed past Dr Lim as he was doing his rounds.
While no one was hurt, he said: “I was a bit shocked, but my colleagues just carried on with the ward round, like normal. During our rounds, you can hear air strikes and shootings going on.
“This is their daily life for the past few years.”
Since his first mission with Doctors Without Borders in 2013 to Pakistan, Dr Lim has served in 17 projects in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine. He spends an average of three months on each assignment.
He has seen the horrors of war up close: from children with missing limbs to those with horrific injuries after being caught in a bomb blast.
What first drew him to the organisation was a sense of adventure, but he kept returning after witnessing first-hand the impact of its work.
He said Doctors Without Borders is often the only organisation providing medical care in conflict zones.
In Singapore, Dr Lim works as a locum in the Accident and Emergency departments at various hospitals, as this gives him the flexibility to go for these missions.
The organisation covers his flights and accommodation and gives him a salary of €1,800 (US$2,399) a month, which he says is a fraction of what he earns in Singapore.
He said of the amount: “It’s very little. I’m not doing this for the money.”
One mission cost Dr Lim, who is single, to miss his only brother’s wedding.
He was stuck in Afghanistan and could not leave as the airspace had been closed due to heavy bombing.
That stint was also a painful one for another reason.
Just months after Dr Lim left the Kunduz Trauma Centre in Afghanistan, many of his friends died after the US mistakenly bombed the hospital, thinking it was a building seized by the Taliban.
A total of 42 people, including 14 Doctors Without Borders staff and 24 patients, died in the air strike in 2015.
Dr Lim said his most dangerous stints were in Sudan and Yemen where civil wars were raging.
During one air strike in Yemen in 2016, the windows of Abs Hospital shattered while Dr Lim was treating a child suffering seizures.
The child’s mother grabbed the child and ran. Some staff and patients also fled.
He said: “I was afraid I would be bombed to death, but I thought: Where could I run to? And my superior told me to prepare for the casualties from the bombing.”
A colleague assessed that it was safe for the staff to remain, and Dr Lim stayed put.
He was in Sudan in 2024 when he and his colleagues had to flee a few times from where they were stationed to avoid the militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The African nation plunged into a civil war in 2023 due to a power struggle between the army and the RSF, and over 40,000 people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes in what has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Besides providing medical and humanitarian aid to people affected by war and conflict, Doctors Without Borders also helps those affected by natural disasters and pandemics, among others.
Currently three Singaporeans and another Singapore permanent resident (PR) serve with Doctors Without Borders in countries such as Kiribati, Syria and South Sudan, said its spokesperson.
One is a doctor, and the other is a surgeon.
One of them works as a health promoter to educate people about diseases and encourage the use of medical services, while another person plans and supervises logistical activities.
When asked if he is afraid of death, Dr Lim paused before saying: “Come what may.” - The Straits Times/ANN
