Ghana (MNN) ― Advanced trauma care in West Africa could save thousands of lives, but training is scarce. International Aid's partnership with Johnson & Johnson, the West African College of Surgeons, and the Korle bu Hospital in Ghana are focusing on training the doctors to change that.
IA's Surgical Skills Training Center opened two years ago in Accra to offer the Advanced Trauma Operative Management training (ATOM). According to International Aid, the ATOM Course was developed at Hartford Hospital and the University of Connecticut in association with expert trauma surgeons from the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons.
The course helps surgeons train in orthopedics, laparoscopy, and surgical operating room technology. It also provides access to mentoring in modern surgical techniques to better serve a population of 100 million people.
It also means demand is growing. Myles Fish says they'll more than triple the number of doctors they want to help over the next couple years. "There are a thousand doctors in West Africa. We would like to get at least half of them trained in these procedures. We would like to be able to hold 16 sessions, and there are four doctors per session that are trained. But we might be able to accelerate that."
Fish says that as they provide the service, they're not only providing the medical training but spiritual training, too. "Some of the doctors are Christian; some of them do work in Christian facilities, so there's a direct connection there. It definitely builds the relationship so we can explain who we are and why we're doing what we're doing to the doctors while they're in the training. But also we then can stay in relationship with them when they get back to their home hospitals in the hope that we can have a greater evangelistic outreach in those facilities once they get back home."
The main obstacle holding back the training program is funding. Doubling the number of sessions and the number of surgeons trained this year will cost over $100,000. Fish says this is just the first step of a three-year program aimed at making a kingdom-building difference. Click here if you can help.
