Introduction

The purpose of this brief article is to give an overview of the current state of thoracic surgery in Neiva City, Colombia. Included is an outline of procedures performed during the month of April 2007. This is not intended to be an in-depth research article, but rather a short description which may be of use to an interested epidemiologist in the future.

Report

Neiva is located about three hundred kilometers south of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. It has an immediate population of approximately four hundred thousand people, with a total catchment of approximately one and a half million people.

There is a mixed public/private system of health care, with many doctors and other health professionals working in both the public and private systems. Up until 2006, there was no dedicated thoracic surgery service in Neiva, with the majority of thoracic cases being sent to Bogota. In 2006, Neiva acquired the services of a thoracic surgeon, who splits his time between the public and private hospital systems. At present, he also covers emergency general surgery cases in the private hospital system on a part time basis. During the month of April 2007, he performed the procedures outlined in table 1.

Figure 1

Table 1:Procedures performed by the thoracic surgeon in Neiva City, Colombia, during the month of April 2007.

Discussion

As stated above, the purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of the current state of thoracic surgery in Neiva City, Colombia, not to provide in-depth research. A one-month period is not necessarily representative of long-term trends in thoracic surgery. However, it is very difficult to obtain accurate records of the health care services in Neiva. This is partly due to the mixed private/public health system, but it is mainly due to the lack of an accurate database of procedures performed. Therefore, this short article and others like it may be the only currently available method of tracking health care deliverance in Neiva.