From Syria to the UK and back: Doctor's mission to help quake survivors in his homeland

Tirej Brimo fled Aleppo in 2011 for a new life - but now his country's predicament has called him to return

Dr Tirej Brimo outside the clinic in Lviv. Photo: NHS Cambridge University Hospitals

A British doctor who escaped the war in Syria and arrived in the UK as a refugee is preparing to undertake an emotional journey back to his homeland to deliver medical equipment to hospitals treating earthquake victims.

Tirej Brimo was a medical student in Aleppo when the war broke out in 2011 and he fled with nothing but a bag of his possessions.

After spending time in Lebanon and Egypt he arrived in Britain in 2013 with basic English skills and a burning passion to achieve his dream of becoming a doctor. He finished his medical studies in the UK and now works as an emergency medicine doctor at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

His mission to help people who have suffered trauma similar to his, such as fleeing conflict or surviving natural disasters, looks likely to take him back to his home city of Afrin in north-west Syria to deliver aid.

Working alongside the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Cambridge Global Health Partnerships, Dr Brimo, 33, is fundraising on JustGiving with a target of £80,000 ($98,399) to buy essential medical equipment for three hospitals in the region badly hit by the recent earthquake.

‘I felt helpless when the war began’

Dr Brimo hopes to be part of the team that will deliver the supplies in what will undoubtedly be a poignant, full-circle journey.

“When the war broke out in Syria I was a medical student and I didn’t have any option but to leave,” he told The National. “When I ran away I was young and I felt helpless. Now, I feel I have built a career and become a resilient person.

“My journey from Aleppo to the UK took me through four countries, 10 cities and 21 houses.

“It will mean a lot to me and it will mean a lot to the people in my hometown to have this aid and to shake the doctors’ hands and thank them for all the work they do. I will feel like a full circle has been completed in my life.”

The group of fundraisers have set their sights on three hospitals in north-west Syria ― Bab Al Hawa hospital, Aaqrabat hospital and Al-Shefaa hospital. Donations will include tools such as neurosurgical drills used in brain operations, X-ray machines and laparoscopic trocars, which are used in keyhole surgery.

After more than a decade of war, Syrian hospitals were already operating under extreme pressure and with a shortage of resources when the 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit the north-west of the country on February 6.

More than 57,300 deaths have been confirmed in Turkey and Syria as a result of the quake.

Dr Brimo said he is shocked when he hears from clinicians in Syria about the dire state of the country’s medical services.

“Some of the equipment is basic but they don’t have it,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s almost impossible for them to help their patients without the tools.

“The medical situation is very dire and doctors are overwhelmed in many cases. They have relived 10 years of the Syrian war in just two minutes [due to the earthquake].

Dr Brimo previously volunteered his skills to treat refugees at camps in Greece and spent two months in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

He believes his background as a refugee enables him to empathise with his patients on a deeper level if they have been through similar traumas, while also helping him to heal the wounds of his past.

“Through medicine we can connect with each other,” he said.

“I have been through that myself. I have very vivid memories of packing a small bag and leaving my country. It’s heartbreaking to see and I want to do something about it.

“By showing them a moment of care could help them go forward and continue.”

“My healing journey was something I have had to do for myself over the last 10 years,” he added. “I was in a state of denial. The first step in my journey was to accept my losses and to accept that [some of his loved ones] are not there any more. I had to establish a new life somewhere else.”

Evelyn Brealey, director of Cambridge Global Health Partnerships, said the fundraising drive aims to benefit doctors “dealing with the most difficult of circumstances”.

Andrew Fryer, head of international at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said donations to the fundraising drive “will make a significant impact in restoring health and hope to those affected by the earthquake”.