'Work is the same, but starts an hour late'

Soon after he is off from his daily duties of tending to patients, Dr Zaid reaches home by 4.30pm.

 
For spine surgeon Dr Zaid Al Aubaidi, the only change Ramadan brings to his routine is that he does not perform long surgeries until necessary.
His days in Ramadan starts an hour later, like all other working people. 
"Generally the work is the same, but yes, it starts an hour late," he tells Khaleej Times. 
Dr Zaid, who is a consultant paediatric orthopedic and paediatric spine surgeon at Burjeel Hospital for Advanced Surgery in Dubai, says the only change that comes to his routine is that long surgeries are postponed. 
"Most of these surgeries which are mainly to correct spinal deformities can take anything between six to eight hours so I try and avoid them in Ramadan," he says. "But, of course, if they are absolutely necessary then the procedures cannot be avoided."
There are accident cases that cannot be delayed so those kinds of surgeries are carried out in routine. "But the long procedures that I do in pediatric surgery to correct spinal deformities they take time," he says. "So during Ramadan, I prefer to put them off keeping patient safety in mind," he adds. 
He, however, says that Ramadan and fasting do not directly affect surgeries.
"It depends on person to person. I normally have long surgeries and do not get exhausted soon," he explains. "Most of the time during these surgeries I have to stand in one place for hours without food and water so it is the same as fasting," says Dr Zaid.
He also says that though he is confident that he can perform these complex surgeries even if it is Ramadan or not, he prefers not to.
"If it is not necessary then I put it off," he adds. 
Patient safety comes first but my work has not been affected even when Ramadan was in the peak of summer three or four years ago with long days of fasting, he says.
In Ramadan, Dr Zaid reaches his clinic by 9am through the work operations start at 8am. "Work starts an hour late and if it is clinic days, I see patients - normally up to 20 patients in a day," says the doctor.
Soon after he is off from his daily duties of tending to patients, Dr Zaid reaches home by 4.30pm.
"I sleep for a while after reaching home since it is relaxing time." 
After Iftar and prayers, Dr Zaid says he meets friends for a chit-chat. 
"I sleep early and wake up for Suhoor, eat whatever is ready, pray, read the Quran and sleep again for some time until it is time to start the day again," he adds.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
 

• UAE
• Ramadan 2021
• Dubai