Aysha Edwards: I always wanted to be a doctor

For as long as she can remember, Dr. Aysha Edwards wanted to be a doctor. As a child in her native Trinidad and Tobago she remembers glorious afternoons with her grandmother; welcoming missionaries who, among many acts, provided philanthropic medical care.

“One of the missionaries was a medical doctor. He was white. I remember asking myself: ‘Does it have to be a white man?’”

‘You can do that too and be of service to your people,’ a little voice in her head assuredly nudged her.

Every step she took from that moment on led her closer to medical school at the University of West Indies, “Trinidad and Tobago’s University of Nairobi,” she says.

She would graduate with a twin Degree in Medicine and Surgery; and then proceed to acquire a Master’s in Emergency Medicine. As far as careers go, Dr. Edwards has been living her dream.

If you have been to AAR Hospital in Nairobi and seen a lady – extremely Kenyan-like – adorning a nice suit, walking from one section of the hospital to another, saying hello to random people, and generally wanting to know if you have been assisted, that would be Dr. Edwards.

Another way to tell it’s her would be to pick out Jamaican-esque tonal deeps and rises in her voice. For instance, she would say, ‘near-na-tel’ for neonatal; or ‘Tea-a-tar’ for theatre.

She came to Kenya seven years ago. Her husband was starting a job with IBM (the tech company) in Nairobi.

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“I moved as a dutiful wife; with the intent of taking it easy and just relaxing; especially because I was moving away from an established and busy career back home.”

That did not happen because she took up a job that would equally prove demanding. Even before taking the flight to Nairobi Aysha had applied for a job at Nairobi Hospital.

“I joined the hospital as an emergency medicine doctor,” she says.

Later, she would be put in charge of emergency room outpatient services. At the point of exiting Nairobi Hospital, she was the Acting Medical Director.

“I enjoyed my tenure at Nairobi Hospital. In September 2020 I made a personal decision that I had done my time and left.”

Someone brought to her attention that a new hospital was coming up and they were recruiting. That was AAR Hospital – now an icon of Kiambu Road.

She applied for the Medical Director position and successfully interviewed for the job. At the time, the new hospital was still under construction.

In September 2023, Edwards was appointed CEO (in an acting capacity) for AAR Hospital. Two months later, in November, the appointment would be confirmed.

One of the lessons she has learnt quickly is that as the chief accountability officer for the organisation, when things go wrong you take the blow alone; unlike when there are successes to be lauded.

Now that she is CEO of a Level Five hospital, with a bed capacity of 140, 12 ICUS, 9 HDUs, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, four theatres and a dialysis centre with a carrying capacity of 11, she is at a vantage position to impact more lives than she would’ve as a clinician.

She might have dropped the white coat for suits, but her stethoscope remains loosely tucked away at a corner of her office.

“When was the last time you handled a patient?” I ask.

“Last week,” she says. “We had an emergency patient; a man from construction who had been electrocuted.”

As an emergency medicine specialist, it is not lost on her that her expertise might be needed anytime anywhere.

Her original plan (together with her spouse) was to be in Kenya for a maximum of two years. She has now overshot the target by five.

Kenya has ensnared her being. She often jokes to her husband that if he ever decided to leave he would have to do so by himself. “I tell him I am not going anywhere.”

“What is so enchanting about Kenya?” We ask.

“The people!” she says.

The circle of friends she has had in Kenya is closer than any she has had anywhere else, she says.

“Do not get me wrong: Kenya has nice food and nice places to visit. But the p-e-o-p-l-e!!! You people are just so hospitable and ingenious.”

On many calls with her folks back in Trinidad she would invoke her Kenyanness. “When they tell me they are going to line up to pay the electricity bill or the water bill, I laugh, and tell them about the magic of M-Pesa.”

A few patients (her friends) have referred to her as a long-lost daughter who has returned home.

These close-knit friendships contribute to her wellness, because, in medicine, doctors sometimes operate on the edge of life and death.

“The first patient that I was a part of treating, who died, was here in Kenya. It affected me.”

She tells us beyond being a doctor she too is human and struggles to think about her immortality.

To unwind she does any of the following: “Go out with friends for a brunch, bake, and watch a movie or a series.”

Technically, Dr. Edwards has left clinical practice. It disheartens her – a little bit. Remember, treating people from illness to wellness, was her dream from her childhood years.

She says: “We are a service industry – like many others. What sets us apart is the fact that healthcare has zero room for error.

“As the CEO you want your patients to come in, be diagnosed appropriately and leave feeling better than they came in.

“One of the challenges patients face in a hospital is moving long distances between triage, the doctor’s office, laboratory, pharmacy and cashier’s office.

“My ambition is to make that experience much better: such that a patient can receive all the critical services within one space.”

If you met Dr. Edwards and asked her to introduce herself, she might skip the ‘Doctor’ part. Instead, she would likely say: ‘I am a daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend.’

Being a doctor, she was taught, is what you do but not who you are.

Would she consider Kenyan citizenship? “Only if the government will allow it,” she says.