A talk with Dr Tom Potokar

Gibanje za pravice Palestincev (Campaign for the Rights of the Palestinian People) and Cankarjev dom invite you to a talk with Dr Tom Potokar. The talk is part of the Cultural Embassy of Palestine, an annual event organised by the Campaign for the Rights of the Palestinian People over the past 13 years. This year’s Cultural Embassy of Palestine is dedicated to Gaza. Dr Potokar will be interviewed by the journalist Aljaž Vrabec. The event will be held in English, with simultaneous translation into Slovenian.

Tom Potokar is a plastic surgeon, more specifically, an expert in burns, as well as plastic and reconstructive surgery. Dr Potokar has worked in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon to improve the care of victims of burn injuries by building the capacity of those treating them. He has been to Gaza 16 times to treat patients, most recently this spring. He says it has never been worse.

When not in the operating theatre, Dr Potokar has been describing the horrors and crimes he witnessed to international media. He is also a valuable witness for all the agencies gathering evidence of the crimes committed in Palestine. "The biggest problem is where to even send a patient for rehabilitation. All these people have had their homes destroyed and have been displaced several times over the last year. Even leaving the hospital is complicated, let alone going back for a checkup, because the bombing is uninterrupted, and any movement is extremely dangerous," he says.

Born to a Slovenian father, and an English mother, the British doctor’s full name is Thomas Stephen Potokar. Today, Dr Potokar is retired, working to alleviate the unbearable suffering in Gaza. Less than a decade ago, he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work treating burn victims around the world. "When I start telling people what I do, they often start praising me, but it's not about me, it's about the people who are there. I can go there, but I can also leave. They can't."