(AKI) - Heba Kotb receives visitors in a small study on the second floor of a building in Sharia Sudani, in Cairo's residential neighbourhood of Mohandeseen. Hanging on the wall of the study is her medical degree and sexology specialization. The phone in the entrance rings constantly and the waiting list for patients is two-months-long. Kotb, 39, is a practicing Muslim, married to a fellow doctor and a mother of three. But she is also a pioneer in her subject matter, still considered a taboo in many Middle Eastern countries, and every Saturday morning, she tests boundaries in a show on Egyptian state television.Kotb invites experts as well as Muslim clerics to discuss sex according to the Koran on her show and then answers phone calls from viewers who ask her for religious as well as medical advice on sexual matters. "Few people want to enter my line of work in the Arab world," she says in an interview to Adnkronos International (AKI). "I follow tradition and have a strong personality but, most importantly, have a supporting family," she adds, explaining how she deals with a job she defines as "different rather than difficult."
"At first, only well-off people came to me and I had about two or three patients a week. But after I started appearing on television people started to get to know me and call for an appointment, often provided they remained anonymous. Slowly, more people arrived here at the practice."