Urgent Calls from Distant Places

An Emergency Doctor’s Notes About Life and Death on the Frontiers of East Africa

De: Marc-David Munk

Narrado por: Marc-David Munk

A profound exploration of emergency medicine practiced at the most remote and challenging frontiers of East Africa. This inspiring collection of essays finds hope and meaning in the face of extraordinary odds, as a young physician asks: What are the ethical and moral dimensions of saving one life knowing countless others will die?

In 2008, a young doctor set out for Kenya, to volunteer with the famed AMREF East African Flying Doctors Service. An emergency physician looking to make a difference, Marc-David Munk flew dozens of missions as a flight surgeon to eleven East African countries, including war-torn Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From his unarmed air ambulance, Munk and his team treated patients suffering from severe trauma, possible Ebola hemorrhagic fever, elephantiasis, malaria, and gunshot wounds. In Urgent Calls from Distant Places, the missions described are real and compelling. Listeners will meet sick NGO workers in Somalia, malnourished Ugandan soldiers, suicidal teenagers, violent cow rustlers, American special forces, albino children murdered for their body parts, and even 19th-century explorers David Livingstone and Henry Stanley. Each chapter details the medical challenges of the mission but also explores the greater philosophical questions raised by treating patients in East Africa: African history, the impact of colonialism, communism, religion, terrorism, and war. Munk examines the unique histories and politics of the eleven countries he visits.

Urgent Calls is the story of the doctors, nurses, and pilots who tackled complex and dangerous missions to save lives. The book also bears witness to the author’s moral development as a healer and as a human. Urgent Calls takes listeners to the wild beauty of East Africa and embraces the challenges of healing patients with humility, gratitude, and hope... one life at a time.

©2024 Marc-David Munk (P)2024 Marc-David Munk

Disappointment Never Stopped

Alas, I hoped for a good story about adventurous health delivery for remote and poor patients, with wise insights into reforming and humanizing health care. I found the insights disappointingly simplistic while the air rescues involved an extremely costly method of health care delivery, often for wealthy Northern Hemisphere tourists and officials (according to his stats, the money for air rescues could have paid for thousands of nurses and saved far more lives). Well, more could be said, but I kept waiting for insights and observations that just never seemed to arrive. The air service was a good cure for burnout, but I never expected the cost would be so high or the justifications so low. A disappointing listen. Sorry.

Fun listen for all and especially medically trained

Really enjoyed the stories and the mix of the medical terminology. Gives you some perspective on the different areas of Africa