Dr Swee Chai Ang is a consultant orthopedic surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London hospitals and co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Dr Ang Swee Chai was born in Penang, grew up and studied in Singapore, and has since 1977, joined her husband to live in exile in Britain. She has a master’s degree in occupational medicine, is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is now working in Britain at the St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London hospitals – the first woman to be appointed orthopaedic consultant since the hospitals were founded several centuries ago.
Over the past 20 years, she has worked in the Lebanon and the Occupied Territories of Gaza and the West Bank. She was witness to the 1982 Sabra-Shatilla massacres which “From Beirut to Jerusalem” is based upon. She was also orthopaedic consultant to the United Nations and the World Health Organisation during the first Palestinian Intifada
With her husband, Francis Khoo, and some friends, Dr Ang helped to form the British Charity, Medical Aid for Palestinians, following the 1982 massacres. In 1987, President Yasser Arafat awarded Dr Ang the Star of Palestine, the highest award for service to the Palestinian people.
She had co-authored “Field Manual in War Surgery”, a hand book based on experiences in the war front.