Making his own mark: Dr. Mukhtar Mohamed
Pictured in the Bwindi Community Hospital I.C.U: New internist Dr. Mukhtar Mohamed and nursing staff with Dr. Claire, a visiting Scottish physician from Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow
The mission of Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) has always been to provide excellent healthcare first and foremost to the local population including the Batwa. But increasingly patients needing specialty care are being referred to BCH because of the hospital’s expertise as a teaching and research hospital.
BCH has hired internist Dr. Mukhtar Mohamed to help train and oversee the influx of new interns and residents. Impeccably dressed and well-spoken, Dr. Mohamed is well-suited to enhance the hospital’s delivery of services while also training new doctors. Originally hailing from Somalia and Kenya, he received his master’s degree in internal medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda.
As the stimulus behind Dr. Mohamed’s hiring, Dr. Charlie Morris of California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) recognizes the need of having a highly qualified board-certified internist based at BCH who can serve as preceptor for students and residents who are sent for training to BCH from CPMC and other global institutions.
A focus of Dr. Mohamed is heart disease. Valvular heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathies, rheumatic and congenital heart diseases are common problems in Uganda, but frequently go unaddressed. The vision is to improve both diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to becomes a referral and research institution for cardiac conditions. Dr. Mohamed is looking forward to working collaboratively with all stakeholders. He noted, “It’s hard to wash your face with one finger; you use all your digits.” Dr. Mohamed is poised to be the catalyst for a collaborative approach between BCH, CPMC and the greater medical community to solve challenging medical problems in a remote portion of the globe.
Written by Dr. Scott Kellermann