On Monday, November 2nd, an American surgeon and a large medical team from the American Foundation “His Healing Helping Hands International Ministries” (4 H.I.M.) arrived at the Magbenteh Community Hospital. The visit was arranged by Dr ABD Sesay through his contacts in the United States.
The 17 man strong team, lead by Dr Jeff Smith, will be in Sierra Leone for about a week and have set up a mobile clinic in Mayopo, an area with virtually no health care, some 50 kilometers from Magbenteh and just North of Yele where the Lion Heart Nedoil Palm oil factory is located. The team will see hundreds of patients needing care. Those needing surgery, mostly hernia patients, will be referred to Magbenteh, where Dr Jeff Smith and his two assistants Penny en Jess, alongside our Sierra Leonean Doctors Moses Kargbo and ABD Sesay and the local theater staff, will perform the operations.
This presents a unique learning experience for all the doctors, the assistants and theater staff. The US team, who have never been to Africa before, will see cases that are virtually non existent in the Western world. The local doctors and staff will be introduced to new techniques for these kind of operations, and can learn about these on the spot while using the most modern surgical materials brought along by the US team and which will be donated to the hospital. The team will also leave a considerable amount of surgical supplies behind.
During five very long operating days the team is expected to treat 25 – 30 patients.
In the picture, Dr ABD and Dr Jeff Smith are discussing a patient. |
