Jul 15, 2020
Pioneering obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Hassan Shehata grew up in Khartoum in Sudan. As a junior doctor he was thrown headlong into revolution, military Islamic extremism, beatings and torture. We talk about his horrific time in ‘ghost house’ prisons, life in Sudan and Egypt, sitting on Bob Marley’s bed in Jamaica, Donald Trump and Hydroxychloroquine, following Liverpool FC around the world and his extraordinary work in helping people become parents. Dr Hassan Shehata, our 100th episode, is also the man who helped Lisa and David have children after 5 miscarriages. One day in the clinic she was astounded when he told her his extraordinary story.
On this episode we cover:
Dr Shehata’s difficult recovery from Covid 19
The real deal behind Hydroxychloroquine and Donald Trump
India soldiers, Malaria and gin and tonic
How the NHS and private sector manage the emotional side of illness
The conference in Italy that sparked his interest in miscarriage immune treatment
Growing up in a medical family in Sudan
The Italian Convent school he attended in Sudan
Being educated by Catholic Nuns and Priests in Khartoum in ‘the Eton of Sudan’
The old-school colonial university of Khartoum
The 1985 Sudanese revolution being an amazing time to be a student
Doctors being at the frontline for democracy
The June 1989 military coup by military officer Omar al-Bashir (who would go on to rule the country until he was overthrown in 2019!)
Seeing all his colleagues taken to prison
Standing on a soap box
Being arrested for the first time and put into a ‘ghost house’
Initially being very well treated
Going into hiding until they took his grandfather instead
Beatings and torture
His colleagues being killed by baseball bats
The danger of being incarcerated by very young men
The day they told him was going to be executed
Being driven blindfolded through the desert
The shocking place he was thrown out the car
Escaping to Egypt without a passport
His policeman uncle in Cairo
The physical beatings he had
Being spat at being the most degrading
But the worse torture being sleep deprivation
Witnessing colleagues having their nails pulled out
His friend being beaten to death with a baseball bat
Fellow doctors physical checking them to see if they could take more torture
That government lasting 30 whole years
Islamic fanatics military government killing millions
How it felt to be dragged to the car supposedly to be executed
Being thrown barefoot, shaking and confused into the street
Feeling very low when by Egypt
His pilot uncle being shot down in Palestine and missing presumed dead
Travelling through Egypt as a child in Cairo
His grandfather representing him at his own wedding!
His wife Selma having photos in her dress with the family
Travelling to Saudi Arabia during the World Cup 1990
Travelling from Rhiad through incredible desert (to watch England v Cameroon)
Regular holidays in London as a child to stay in Marble Arch
Still being surprised and delighted by London
Being an avid Liverpool supporter
His first son being an Essex boy
Working in different UK hospitals as a junior doctor
Looking back on his time in prison
Life in the UK rewarding him for his hard work
Selling cornflakes shop to shop to raise money to travel
Four naïve boys from Khartoum crossing Europe as a student; Athens to Brindisi, Bologna, Milano, Venice, Genoa, Cannes, Marseilles, Nice, Barcelona and Madrid
Discovering years later they were eating pork
Getting conned during Ramadan in a dodgy nightclub
Sudanese passports being refused by Yugoslavia
Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe at the Jamaica Inn
Visiting Bob Marley’s house
Picture perfect Thailand at the Four Seasons
Going to Rio for the World Cup
Waking up to an ITV crew outside their window
Having breakfast with Ian Wright in Brazil
Heartbroken in Kiev when Liverpool lost
But celebrating watching Liverpool win in Madrid
Spine-tingling moments hearing You’ll Never Walk Alone for the first time in a stadium in Khartoum in 1982
Lisa’s Liverpool connections mean that song makes her cry too
The overwhelming feelings when one of his patients become parents