Changing lives overseas: Training in Vietnam and Peru

8th March 2013

 

Working as a volunteer surgeon in developing countries is generally a very positive learning experience that allows one to reflect on how and what can be achieved in a pared down environment away from the luxury of the teaching hospital city healthcare that we are used to. Routine surgery for us can be life changing for some of the people we meet for whom expectations of healthcare are very different. An overseas trip involves both teaching, direct surgical hands on training and actual surgical treatment.

Some aspects of our skills are very portable and applicable in areas of the world where conditions are common and the local expertise or facility is just not available. 

A relatively straightforward operation such as the repair of a cleft lip and palate can hugely influence the life of a child, affecting their ability to interact with the world. Adults and young people who have lived with their condition for longer can also be treated.  Managing condition related to burn injury or congenital limb problems are amongst the types of cases that can done with relatively little special equipment.
The real aim of overseas volunteer surgery is to train the local surgeons ultimately to manage safely and independently and to set up an education program so that the work can continue in a sustainable way. Bringing in the concepts of team working with specialist nurses and therapists supporting physicians and surgeons, reflecting the team approach that we follow at home, can be a new concept in different cultural environments. Safety within the available conditions is vital.

Charities may function in differing models, with some benefit from a large organisation, such as Operation Smile flying in a team to treat great numbers of people or work on a smaller more individual scale within the local facilities.  All are valid in their ways and feature as a small aspect of healthcare support to the developing world. 

In last couple of years I have joined the Facing the World team. The charity has a focus on bringing cases who have craniofacial problems too complex for management in their own country over to London. They are carefully selected on an individual basis and managed with a large team of people ranging from the volunteer host families that help with practical and language issues, to the charity coordinators and medical team.

The charity has a link with a hospital in Da Nang, Vietnam. 

This year I will travel to Vietnam as part of the team with the aim of teaching some aspects of the management of cleft lip and palate surgery to the local surgeons there, as well as some other aspects of paediatric reconstructive plastic surgery that they may not have had experience in but could manage locally. There is no lack of ability but facilities and training are less available and the need in the local population is great.  I will focus on demonstrating surgery tips whilst operating on children as well as seeing and discussing problems that arise. It will be an open forum in a way for the local doctors to gain from any knowledge the team has to impart. As there are huge numbers of children needing treatment another aim will be to link with other charities that work in Vietnam and link the expertise and training potential. 

I have previously volunteered with an individual charity, Paz Holandesa, based in Arequipa Peru for a few years providing cleft lip and palate expertise and treatment.

Norma Timoney
Full Member of BAPRAS

 

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