Field Notes: Dr. Kizito Osondu, Offshore Physician

Dr. Kizito Osondu joined Remote Medical International as a field provider in January of 2019. Originally from the Imo State of Nigeria, he is currently stationed on a vessel off the coast of Guinea operating as an offshore physician. 

Since joining us at Remote Medical International, Osondu’s duties consist of setting up the vessel clinic and coordinating the project from start to finish. He also facilitates the operations meeting every morning and checks up on patients, carries out trainings, participates in drills, and performs routine inspections of the medical clinics for clients and government regulations. 

“There is still much to be done to make the environment we all live and work in a safe haven, by eliminating all unsafe acts and conditions. When emergencies occur, no matter how rural and remote the location, the responsible personnel and facilities ought to be promptly available to tackle the situation head-on,” says Dr. Osondu.

When Osondu was just five years old, he was playing around with neighborhood friends when he fell from a two-story balcony. He narrowly missed a set of barbed wires during the fall, putting him in a situation where he was holding on to a pipe roughly one meter from the ground, calling for help. 

Local residents rescued Osondu and brought him to a local pharmacy to seek any medical attention he could get. Due to the lack of access and affordability of health care in Nigeria at the time, he was unable to receive proper medical attention. 

Fortunately, because he only suffered minor bruises, he was able to walk away from the experience uninjured. From then on, Osondu dedicated his life to providing health care wherever he can around the world. 

“It was an enormous miracle,” says Dr. Osondu. “My childhood story, etched into my subconscious, is an indelible determination to contribute my quota to the improvement of health care in my community, and the world at large.”

Soon after Osondu began medical school, he lost his mother to heart complications which made getting through school a challenge and nearly caused him to drop out. To keep himself occupied, he took up menial jobs like computer operations, and typing of journals and textbooks for lectures. 

“Surviving that period of great loss has taught me that there is no challenge in life that is insurmountable, and even though I wasn’t in a position to save my mum’s life, I will always try to save and make an impact on as many lives as I can to make her look down upon me with pride and a smile on her face,” says Dr. Osondu.

Once he became a doctor, Osondu worked in hospitals around Nigeria. He began a residency in obstetrics and gynecology before finding his calling in the occupational health and safety profession.

“It became clear to me that I would better fulfill my childhood aspirations to make the world a much safer place in this very path,” says Dr. Osondu.

On his most recent deployment with Remote Medical International on an off-shore vessel, Osondu received commendations from the clients of the vessel for the hard work and dedication of his team.

According to Dr. Osondu, “they were impressed by the robustness and precision of the training contents and by the tenacity and consistency put into health care provision on the vessel. It was really nice in that moment to get the palpable gratitude from people for the efforts we put into the job. It motivates me to keep doing more.”

When asked what he believes our clients value most from the work that our field providers do, Osondu responded:

“I devote myself to the work, without secluding myself from the entire team. I am a huge contributor to their utmost desire of achieving ‘goal zero’ in the project: zero loss of lives, zero disabilities, major or minor, and zero spillage or harm to the environment!”