Dr. Akram Babury, the Associate Director of Pulmonary Medicine, used his medical skills to help residents of his home country during volunteer service in Afghanistan on three different occasions.
Babury left Afghanistan in 1982 because of the Russian occupation. In 2007, Babury received a phone call from a colleague who was in Kabul, Afghanistan at the CURE International Hospital.
The colleague asked Babury why he was not there helping the people of his birth country.
“Obviously it shocked me that someone was calling me from my own country and asking for help,” said Babury, who has worked at Jamaica Hospital Center for more than 10 years.
At first, Babury said that he thought it was a joke. He said that when the hospital’s residents go to other cities and towns to do medicine, they are encouraged to call at any time with questions or interesting cases, so he thought it was one of them playing a prank.
As the conversation continued, Babury realized it was not a joke at all.
Babury first volunteered in Afghanistan in October of 2007, which was his first time back to the country in about 25 years. He returned in 2008 and 2009, each time spending a month there.
Babury said that the first time he went back to Kabul it was very painful to see the suffering and damage. The high school he attended and hospital he had worked at had been completely destroyed. The home he had lived in was also no longer there.
However, after a few days, he said he began to understand the reality and that help was needed. Babury said that he felt a responsibility to do something.
“They really appreciate it,” Babury said of the assistance he provides. “I was treated like a hero, like a king when I [went] there. I feel very proud.”
He assisted with medical care and conducted training sessions that educated medical professionals about pulmonary medicine.
“There is much suffering, but the good part is that Afghan people are alive. They want things to improve,” Babury said. “As I worked with the residents, nurses and doctors, I began to feel very proud of them. Despite many challenges, they are doing an excellent job.”
Babury volunteered through CURE International, which is a non-profit organization based in the United States that operates 10 hospitals in developing countries, including CURE International Hospital of Kabul and CURE International Family Health Center.
“We need a thousand hospitals like CURE Kabul, and we need more Americans to support CURE International as an organization,” Babury said. “We cannot win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people with [just] force alone. We need health care to [help] ease the suffering of the people.”
Babury said that he is going to try to encourage other Afghan-Americans “to go back and do something positive.”
Babury said that he was proud and happy every day to be able to save lives.
Babury said that he definitely wants to return to Kabul again to volunteer, saying that “in my heart I [would] love to go back again.”
