I’m a new blogger but I’m familiar with the blogging world as I follow a lot of blogs, my sister told me one time: you’ll be a perfect blog organizer as I read many blogs but I don’t have one, while she has one but she doesn’t read many blogs as I do.
So here I am, writing for my first blog, I have a lot to write because it’s a new life for me, I’m a doctor practicing Anaesthesia since 3 years, I graduated from libya, and now I’m starting my new life here in Ireland since 3 weeks.
It was my dream since the beginning, to travel and work abroad, and that’s one of the reasons that I decided to study medicine, as I’ll have more chance in working abroad.
So I had to finish my 7 years of study first, then after I graduated, I decided to chose Anaesthesia, as it’s one of the most demanding medical specialities in any place.
So I practiced Anaesthesia, in jalla hospital, Benghazi, I gained a lot of experience, it’s a busy hospital that covers Benghazi as well as the rural areas. And I really loved the specialty I have chosen.
So then I had to chose the country, as each country has different medical equivalent exam, for some reasons I chosed Ireland, and thanks god, I realized now that it’s the perfect place for me.
It was a long journey to finish all the exams to be eligible to work here, first I had to do the ILETS exam (English language exam), so I went though a preparatory course, and I set the exam, I passed with the required scores from the first time, but that’s not all, it’s just the beginning.
After that I sent all my papers and certificates to the Irish Medical Council, to be examined, it took 2 months before they replied to me that I was eligible to set for the primary medial council exam in cairo by the internet.
So I had to study for that exam, it’s a multiple choice questions exam, covering all the materials I studied in medicine, so I had to study the important things only, but the hard thing that there were no material to study from, so I searched in the internet for some advices from other people who did the exam, and I tried to do my own material.
I was too lucky because 5 days before the exam, I got some materials, although they were too old, but they were extremely useful.
So I studied these materials, and I passed the exam from the first time, I was too happy, as I still had only one exam to do in Dublin.
The second exam which was in Dublin, is a practical exam, that involves history and examination of patients, the problem is that this exam is not done at a regular times, only once a year, beside the date wasn’t sure, so I decided to do it the other year because when I passed the primary exam was only few months from the second exam, I was afraid of doing it at that time, because first I had to study a lot, as It’s done only once a year, so I had to pass it from the first time, but the main cause was the financial part, it was expensive to book for the exam and to travel to Dublin, so I wanted to be sure that I’ll pass it from the first time.
But thanks god, dad as usual encouraged me to do it and not to wait for the other year, and he was right, I studied as much as I could, because I was working as well, then I set the exam, and I passed from the first time.
I was too happy after that, but the number of candidates was too much, around 80 passed the exam, this number made me afraid as the competition for having a job will be so high.
Any way, I applied for a job, just to see my chances, and out of 5 applications I had one interview in Sligo, I did the interview, but they just put me in the waiting list, and they didn’t call me back.
After that I had to go back home, as I can’t stay without job, beside I had a job in libya I didn’t want to lose before being sure of having a job here.
So I returned back home, and I started to get depressed, after seeing the large number of candidates in Ireland, besides there were the other European doctors who didn’t have to do any exam to work here according to the European laws, and there are a lot of eastern European doctors who wanted to work here, and they have the priority over others.
Any way, may dad and family as usual were there for me, they encouraged me to go again on September and to try to find a work, they told me that they’ll help me financially with all their capacity, which is not easy, as it’s too expensive to live here without having a job.
That made me feel better, in the same time I was applying by the internet for jobs, but I didn’t have any reply.
One day, Friday morning, I had a phone call from a Libyan doctor who works in dublin, he told me that he could find a job for me, he asked me to send my CV to an address, I sent it, and after 3 days, I had a phone interview for 30 minutes, then they told me that I’m accepted for the job and they need me as soon as possible.
I couldn’t believe it at first, just in 4 days I had a job, and I was working for that since 10 years, it was too sudden, I told them that I’ll need 10 days to release my commitments in libya and most important was to stay my last moments with my family before my long leave.
That was really unexpected, I know a lot of people prayed for me, from Libya, France, Canada, the people who loved me and whished me all the best of luck.
Now I’m writing this from the hospital where I work for, it’s in wexford, which is a wonderful town in the south east of Ireland.
And it has been two weeks since I have started work, every thing is going smooth, and it’s even better than the dream I always imagined.
I know it’s a long story for a blog, but I’m writing it mainly to my family, and to myself, that will remind me for the long journey I did to reach to my dream.
That’s it for now, I’ll write shorter and more interesting things next time, to share my views and adventures in my new life in Ireland.
