Albanian doctor in Switzerland, Gëzim Dushi

Gëzim Dushi (archive)

 Gëzim Dushi is a well-known pediatric surgeon in Switzerland, but his journey here has not been easy at all.

The year 1990 found him in Switzerland, with his sister, while he was studying at the University of Prishtina medicine he found out that in his faculty there would be no teaching in the Albanian language, and dr. Gëzim never wanted to teach in Serbo-Croatian and for that he stayed in Switzerland.

"At that time I was visiting my sister. I heard that the faculty has been closed and I was looking for opportunities to continue the faculty elsewhere. I came to Switzerland because my sister was here', he told to the journalist Fatime Kalimashi on AlbSe.

Recalling the difficulties of the beggining dr. Dushi says the language was quite difficult. He understood but could not write.

"I still find difficulties in writing. I listened my studies in French and wrote them in Albanian. Everything is difficult but everything in life at the moment when is done well, the difficulties go away", he says.

Another difficulty encountered is the fact that he was Albanian and we are talking about 1992 when dr. Dushi started his studies in Switzerland. He says that even when he was looking for an apartment he could not find it because he was Albanian.

He liked the specialization in pediatric surgery as he sees it as a plastic surgery but not to beautify but to perform functions. "In the whole association in Switzerland, we are 60-70 pediatric surgeons. With a little work and luck, they accepted me to do the specialization for pediatric surgery that I completed in 2010, then in England for pediatric urology", says Dr. Dushi.

He has managed to be and head of Shyl's pediatric cabinet...he says that it is more difficult for him to deal with his parents.

"I have more work with the parents than the children, for an operation or explanations we have to call the parents, he has to trust that the child does not know. It is like mediation, how parents perceive us, how we see them, whether children accept us or not, parents accept us or not, that is the hardest part. The biggest work that cost him time is talking to his parents", continues the story of the well-known Albanian doctor in Lausanne.

He has had his private clinic for 5 years and says that half of the patients are Albanian and have contacts with many compatriots there.

"Probably about half of the patients I have are Albanian. So far they are satisfied, and it has happened to me in the hospital when I was when I speak Albanian it is different for them. Often times in the hospital, because there I did not have time to prepare the patient for an operation, it sometimes happened that it was urgent and at the moment when I spoke to them in Albanian they said 'Aaa same as in the hands of God', he says.