Dr Emmanuel Taban offers pulmonology care to critically ill coronavirus patients and pro bono primary healthcare in rural South Africa. Courtesy

Dr. Emmanuel Taban is a South Sudanese born pulmonologist leading a groundbreaking discovery for the treatment of Covid-19 patients and saving their lives, thousands of miles away from home.

Born 1979 in Loka village of Lainya County – Central Equatoria State, Emmanuel Taban was among the five children raised by a single mother in the then Sudan.

At 14, Taban was detained in a ghost-white house in Juba by the Sudan Army Forces – SAF – for being a rebel-spy.

He was incarcerated, tortured for six weeks, and later sent off to Khartoum where he was forced to convert to Islam.

After his father was killed in the Civil War, the young Taban fled to Eritrea at the age of 16 and live there as a street boy for two years.

He then decided to travel to his uncle in Nairobi, Kenya, but he wasn’t welcomed – so, inspired by the “made in South Africa” printing on a cola can, he traveled for another 3,000km through East Africa on his own and eventually into South Africa.

Taban completed his secondary education with the help of charity groups, including Mercy House, and went on to study medicine at Medunsa University.

While in South Africa, Taban spent his first six years studying medicine, another four years as a specialized physician, and finally spent the other two years to become a specialized pulmonologist or lung specialist.

Today, Taban holds three medical degrees and recently became qualified to offer expert pulmonology care at Mediclinic Highveld – a rare and valuable service in rural Mpumalanga – South Africa – as well as Mediclinic Midstream.

Dr. Taban offers world-class pulmonology care as well as pro-bono primary healthcare to patients in Johannesburg.

He is married with three children to a South African woman

Carte Blanche celebrates the life of epic grit and imagination – of a young refugee who became a leading pulmonologist who is saving the lives of critically-ill COVID-19 ventilator patients with his novel use of therapeutic bronchoscopies.

Dr. Taban argues that despite reading European literature, that it is not enough, he does his own research to treat coronavirus patients there.

He is now appealing to South Sudanese to adhere to the coronavirus basic preventive principles such as wearing a face mask, hands washing using sanitizer or soap, and keeping social distance.

Speaking to Charles Wote of Eye Radio on Thursday from South Africa, the 43 years old pulmonologist disclosed that he has so far treated over 200 critically ill coronavirus patients with about 14 scams to the virus in South Africa.

Interview Part 1:

Interview Part 2: