A native of Damascus has been professionally helping Novgorodians maintain healthy vision for 10 years now

Today, Russia celebrates Medical Worker's Day. The Central City Clinical Hospital of Veliky Novgorod shared an unusual story of choosing a profession, place and future destiny. Love for science and empathy for patients - this is what many city residents who came to the clinic on Zelinsky Street, 11 with vision problems remember about ophthalmologist Amer Tarekovich Makhli. Currently, he not only sees patients and helps them successfully fight eye diseases, but also heads the ophthalmology department of Clinic No. 1 of the Central City Clinical Hospital. In the second half of the 2000s, Amer Makhli came from Syria to study medicine at the Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University. It was a difficult but exciting experience for the native of Damascus. After years of study, he decided to stay in Veliky Novgorod.

“I spent my first year studying Russian, it wasn’t easy… In 2015, I completed my residency and started working as an ophthalmologist at Clinic No. 1 of the Central City Clinical Hospital. Both in the hospital and at Polyclinic No. 4,” the doctor recalls. “ I continue to be an ophthalmologist on duty at the regional hospital. That’s how I gained experience.”

When asked if there were plans to return, Amer MAHLI admits:

"Yes, of course, I was going to leave for Damascus after finishing my studies, but somehow unexpectedly for myself I adapted here, got used to it. I liked the people, the work, the attitude of my colleagues, and I decided to stay here for good."

Currently, the former foreigner is already a citizen of the Russian Federation. Not long ago, he married a local girl, they have been together for almost 3 years. By the way, both devote themselves to medicine: the doctor's wife is finishing her residency, intends to become an obstetrician-gynecologist.

"Of course, I miss my family, Syria. But being there, I soon want to come back here – home. My parents understood and accepted my decision," says Amer Makhli.

He emphasizes that at one time he was pleasantly surprised by the attitude of Novgorod patients – the townspeople initially treated him with trust and respect.

"This is very important and I want to work further and more. The main thing, I think, is to treat patients humanely, feel sorry for them and try to help. After all, everyone comes with their own troubles that prevent them from living a full life. Losing sight or going blind is scary. This can greatly affect the quality of life, limit a person's opportunities and independence. Many aspects of life that we take for granted become impossible or significantly more difficult without vision, for example, driving a car, reading, working on a computer, playing sports, etc. And if I can alleviate or even completely remove the problem, then I try to do it," the ophthalmologist reasons.

Today, the ophthalmology department of Clinic No. 1 has 20 beds and three ophthalmologists. Amer Makhli hopes that in the near future it will be possible to expand the range of planned surgeries on the retina. This year, the department's specialists began performing surgeries on intravitreal injection of an angiogenesis inhibitor.

"This is a revolutionary method in ophthalmology so far. We inject the drug into the vitreous body of the eye, hence the name - intravitreal injection. This method of treatment is a surgical intervention in the eyeball. With the help of an injection, we inject a gel-like drug into the deep tissues of the patient's eye. The effect of this drug is aimed at restoring the functioning of the blood vessels," the specialist explains the essence of the method and adds, " We also hope that we will again perform primary surgeries to treat cataracts of the eye and many others. The main thing is that the management of Clinic No. 1 and the Central City Clinical Hospital are accommodating, support our endeavors and believe in us."

Photo of the Central City Clinical Hospital of Veliky Novgorod