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A character in The Queue

Dr. Tarek Fahmy

Tarek is the emergency physician responsible for Yehya’s case.

The book

Cover of The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
The QueueBasma Abdel Aziz, 2013

An endless queue waits before a bureaucracy that controls permits, medicine, information, and official reality.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Tarek is the emergency physician responsible for Yehya’s case. He is skilled, serious, and initially proud of following proper procedure. Fear of investigation leads him to leave the bullet in place and demand a permit he knows may never arrive. The altered file gradually forces him to see that medical neutrality is impossible under the Gate. At the end, he plans an illegal operation, writes into the official record, and rises to act. Whether he reaches Yehya in time is unknown.

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