The 31-year-old has often found himself in high-stakes situations that feel straight out of a Hollywood actioner. For instance, he once had to transport a four-year-old from Kuwait to Toronto on a 16-hour flight. The child was on an ECMO machine that“drains around 2.5 to 3 litres of your blood per second from your body, oxygenates it and puts it back into your body,” explains Thombre. The machine was famously described as a 'Hail Mary' by the late actor Matthew Perry in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. It was a precarious, but ultimately successful, mission.
Mission Afghanistan
One of the most challenging cases of Thombre's career came in October last year when he and his team had to help a 76-year-old Swedish citizen, Abdul Rashid Afif, who had contracted pneumonia while visiting family in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. He was also diabetic and had previously undergone a kidney transplant, thus requiring urgent, specialised medical care.
The Swedish government was unable to help, says Abdul's daughter Nadja Afif, who is based in Sweden, via email.“As a Swedish citizen, the government typically provides assistance in repatriating individuals who fall ill, are injured, or otherwise find themselves unable to leave a country,” she writes.“However, this support is non-existing in a country with sanctions, like Afghanistan.”
Novel Stephen Thombre with a patient
Ever since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs had issued a strict advisory against all travel to the country, she continues. But Abdul, whose family is originally from the country and also holds Afghan citizenship, had been away from his family for far too long due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He was also acutely aware of his advancing years and felt a strong urge to visit his sister, who was unwell.“As my father chose to visit despite this advisory, the government was unable to offer any assistance in his case,” adds Nadja.
According to a recent BBC report, although '40 countries maintain some form of diplomatic or informal relations with the Taliban government', no country has formally recognised it.“At first, we held on to the hope that evacuation companies might provide a way out. But soon, one by one, they backed out at the last moment leaving us disillusioned, powerless and struggling to trust anyone,” she says. It was also very difficult to contact hospitals in Afghanistan and get updates as“communication was severely hampered by language barriers and the overall poor infrastructure”.
“The fear that we might lose him, without getting to say goodbye or have a place to mourn, weighed heavily on us,” recalls Nadja.
They began searching for private air ambulances and got in touch with the Qwiklif team.“We asked one of our local sources in Afghanistan to go to the hospital and make a video call from there and the family was reunited briefly,” says Thombre. But with the country's officials refusing to allow the patient to leave the country, Thombre flew down to help expedite matters.
It sounds a bit like Argo, minus the bad hair.
Planning a medical repatriation
Getting to Kandahar was the first major challenge.“There are very few direct flights from Dubai to Kandahar, so I had to first fly to Kabul. When I landed there, the immigration officials took me to a room where they questioned me about the purpose of my visit, asked for my local contacts, and verified the authenticity of my visa. I explained the situation and after close to two hours, I was allowed to leave,” he says.
Thombre's local contact picked him up from the airport and they set off on a drive that was more than 400 kms long to Kandahar.“The journey was difficult as roads were dug up. We had to cross about 32 checkpoints and at every checkpoint, I realised that they already had my photo, passport, visa and all other details.” Thombre says he had to undergo fresh rounds of questioning at each point.“I was worried that if we gave even one wrong answer, they might not let us cross or could arrest us.”
The only time he was afraid was when they were pulled out of their car at a major checkpoint before entering Kandahar.“They checked us thoroughly and told us that we cannot enter Kandahar. I was held at gunpoint as they checked all our papers and called up people.” But later on, he says,“they apologised and explained that they had to follow these security protocols. They were cooperative and courteous once we explained the situation to them and they realised it was a medical emergency.”
Mission accomplished
Thombre reached the Kandahar hospital at night and was instantly surrounded by his trusted contacts from local NGOs, who escorted him around.“I met the patient and he was really happy to see me. He started to cry and asked me to get him out of there.” His daughter writes that her father had lost about 10 kgs due to immense stress and his medical condition, weighing only 34 kgs when he reunited with her and her brother in Dubai.
Thombre, his team and Abdul were scheduled to leave the next day as they had arranged for a chartered flight from Dubai.“The officials had stationed someone outside my hotel room,” he recalls. The next day, however, more complications arose. To his disappointment, Thombre learned that the flight had been denied permission to land.
“Also, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) didn't want to allow the patient to leave without an investigation because he was a Swedish citizen.” Explaining this further, Najda writes:“As I understand it, if someone is originally from Afghanistan, and even if they have lived abroad, they will undergo a thorough investigation before being permitted to leave the country. This process, unfortunately, delayed my father's ability to return.”
Thombre, his local contact (who worked along with a US national who has been living in the country for many years) and local NGOs spent nearly a day meeting several ministers and officials.“We met a top minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and after about 40 or 45 minutes, we got the clearances,” he says. After some back and forth with the airport authorities, they were finally ready to leave.“The patient was inside the aircraft at 7.30pm and the flight took off at 8pm.”
But there was one last roadblock: Thombre was not allowed to fly with the team.“There were a few more formalities to take care of, so I stayed behind as my medical team was already inside the aircraft, attending to the patient,” he explains. And thanks to his NGO contacts, Thombre spent the night sampling delicious local food, dried figs and fruits and experienced the warm hospitality of the Afghan people, before returning to Dubai the next day from Kabul.
Thombre has completed more than 500 medical repatriations so far through both chartered and commercial flights (the latter, he explains, brings down costs by at least 60 to 70 per cent and they manage to transport critically ill patients successfully by recreating an ICU-like setup inside the aircraft).“When you see the family's happy faces once the patient reaches home safely, the satisfaction that you get is really something else,” he says.“Money cannot buy that.”
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