SIU Scholarship: Dr. Tarik Sulaiman Abulhul

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The Société Internationale d'Urologie offers Training Scholarships for young doctors with basic surgical or urological qualifications. The SIU Scholarships involve training in a recognized Urological center of excellence located in the candidate's geographical region. These SIU-accredited centers provide an excellent environment for learning and, in many instances, hands-on experience, so that candidates may acquire knowledge and skills that they will be able to transfer to their own setting of practice. In this series of short communications, SIU Scholars write about the impact that these training opportunities facilitated by the SIU had on their quality of care and career development. Information about applying for an SIU Scholarship is available at http://www.siu-urology.org/.

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• Tarik Sulaiman Abulhul, SIU Scholar

In June 2005, my acceptance to the SIU scholarship for training in Egypt was confirmed by Professor Abdel Wahab El-Kassaby. At the end of October 2005, I reached Cairo and started work at Ain Shams Hospital under the supervision of Professor El-Kassaby; the new head of the Urology Department, Professor Mamoud Ezzat; and other senior doctors within the department. They were all friendly, cooperative, and supportive of my ambitions.

Ain Shams University Hospitals are among the 3 largest and most famous hospital groups in Cairo, and most patients come to Ain Shams as referral cases. The Ain Shams Urology Department is on the second and third floors. There are 4 operating theaters and about 70 beds—40 for adult males and 30 for adult females and children. The department deals with unusual and complicated urologic cases, and the beds are always occupied because of the high rate of admissions and operations. Each of 4 urological units of the department attend to more than 100 patients daily in the outpatient clinics.

Under the supervision of Professor El-Kassaby, I also worked at the Ain Shams Specialized Hospital. This hospital has 1000 semiprivate beds, with 120 urology beds, and 30 operating theaters for all specialties. There are 4 general urology operating theaters, 4 days per week, in addition to another separate day for renal transplantation.

On Saturdays, there was a major round with Professor Ezzat, which included thorough reviews and discussions of each patient's clinical history, physical examination, preoperative investigations, and planned operations and further management. On Sundays and Mondays, I attended urologic surgeries as an observer or assistant, especially in urooncology and reconstructive surgery under the supervision of Professors Ezzat and El-Bazz, respectively. I worked with Professor El-Kassaby on Mondays, attending urethroplasty operations at Ain Shams University Hospital. Tuesdays were spent at Ain Shams Specialized Hospital. I also attended some ward rounds and operations with other units (Professors Ismail Osman and Rafeek El-Halaby) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

On Thursdays, from 9 A.M.-12:30 P.M., there were postgraduate lectures by the senior staff that covered most of the essential aspects of urology and modern clinical management. These were followed by clinical tutorials from 1-2:30 P.M. At the end of 2 months, there were multiple-choice evaluations based on the lectures. There was also a seminar and journal club, which reviewed new articles and publications in the urologic literature and the highlights of recent urologic conferences.

During my SIU scholarship, I attended the 40th annual meeting of the Egyptian Urological Association (EUA) in December 2005 at Sharm El-Sheik, and urologic conferences at Al-Azhar University in March 2006 and at Ain Shams Hospital in April 2006.

Training in urology in Egypt was a memorable experience. The Urology Department at Ain Shams is a good place for further training and the exchange of experiences; a significant number of reconstructive and endourologic surgeries are performed there daily. Six months is a relatively short time to get good hands-on training in advanced urologic surgery, and I therefore look forward to spending a longer period in the future in one of the subspecialties of urology.

I am pleased to have been one of the SIU scholars, and I hope to always be an active Libyan member of the SIU programs in our continent, Africa.

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Dr. Tarik Sulaiman Abulhul was born on August 23, 1968. He studied medicine at Alfatah University, received the degrees MB,BCh in 1993, and completed his internship in 1994 in Tripoli, Libya. He passed the USMLE Step 1 in 1996, the USMLE Step 2 in 1997, and the examination of the Libyan Board of Urology in 2004. He is currently in the Department of Urology at Tripoli Central Hospital. His interests include sports, medicine, swimming, chess, and reading.