Anesthesia and surgery in a WAMY Camp surgical clinic in a rural setting in North Cameroon
A Kishk
Citation
A Kishk. Anesthesia and surgery in a WAMY Camp surgical clinic in a rural setting in North Cameroon. The Internet Journal of Third World Medicine. 2006 Volume 4 Number 2.
Abstract
This report shed some light on friendly help to remote area unprivileged villages in Cameron who hosted the WAMY medical team in a voluntary camp addressing in a very benevolent manner the compassionate effort of relieving some hardship of fellow humans. The paper describes the three backgrounds incl the patients, the setting of surgery under a restricted resources, and the efforts.
Pictures were used with permission of the organizers of the trip both in Cameron and in Saudi Arabia.
The report
Surgical operations performed at Cameron voluntary camp
The total surgical procedures at this WAMY-supported Camp were 136 operations during two weeks which represent [7% of 2000 cases examined during that period]. Among the procedures; hernia repair, hydrocele and fibroids were most common. Thyroidectomy and mastectomy were performed on seven patients. The rate of minor orthopedic operations at the camp was open closed reduction of fracture as the most frequent procedures and osteomyelitis. Major operations were performed exclusively by doctors while minor surgery was carried out mainly by medical students under supervision, nurses and other auxiliary staff.
Anesthesia was given to all patients using combination not dependents on anesthetic gases supply or vapors since there are difficulties in acquiring supplies. So ketamine, propofol, midazolam and local anesthesia were used exclusively.. Lower extremities and lower abdominal surgeries were performed under spinal and epidural anesthesia Thyroidectomy was performed under cervical nerves blocks. Upper extremities surgery was performed under brachial plexus block. Mastectomy was done under thoracic epidural block. These procedures were done by qualified anesthesiologists of the mission There are only anesthesia technician available in this area and were helping.
The surgery was done on deserving patients who could not offer money for their operations so mostly were neglected cases. Local doctors, anesthesia technicians and nurses were asked as well to participate in the activities given financial incentives. There were two pulse oximeters supplied by the organizers and cardiovascular monitoring was restricted to pulse and blood pressure measurement
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Abdel Jabbar the head of the medical team for allowing to use his material during surgery and WAMY Saudi Arabia and the Mission sponsor in Cameroun for their worm hospitability.
WAMY is a non-governmental youth and student organization affiliated with the United Nations. It supports those involved in young Muslims' personal and social development and works to enable them to fulfill their potential in the British society. Through its various projects, WAMY provides support structures to encourage the positive engagement and integration of the youth in their social environment. It also aims to help assist towards diffusing social tensions, and protect Muslim youth from extremism and such trends that result in social instability.
http://www.wamy.co.uk