Outreach Surgical Camps

Conducting specialized pediatric surgeries in upcountry hospitals.

Given the high burden of pediatric surgical diseases in Uganda with only 7 boards certified pediatric surgeons, the met need for pediatric surgical burden is less than 2%. In an attempt to reduce this big gap, the pediatric surgeons in Uganda through the Paediatric surgical foundation ltd in conjunction with different international team players both individuals and institutions have devised an outreach Pediatric Surgery camp model where a team of pediatric surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses move to a selected upcountry hospital and conduct specialized pediatric surgeries on patients mobilized and prepared by the local team of doctors and surgeons. This model has helped to reduce on the backlog of pending children surgeries manifesting as complications of treatable lesions and it also brings the pediatric services closer the people who are in dare need for the service, this goes hand in hand with transfer of surgical skills to the local surgeons and doctors involved.

This model has been ongoing for the last 12 years (since 2010) and the following hospitals have been visited more than twice for the surgery camps namely; Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital and Soroti   Regional r Referral Hospital. In the last ten years through this model over 1000 children have received specialized pediatric surgery services and for children found with very complex surgical conditions, they are transferred to hospitals with pediatric surgeons for further management but this requires the family to move to the city center which is very costly and cumbersome to people living in the country side.

The major challenge with this model despite its big cost effective out is the constrained budget to transport, accommodate and feed the service providers in addition to purchase of medicines and sundries used during the camp otherwise we have to continue holding pediatric surgery camps at least 3 times a year covering the whole country.

We call upon the different people and communities to get interested and support this noble activity because the results are tangible with hundreds of children and families accessing highly specialized pediatric surgical services in a short time, and from their area of livelihood without having to make long expensive cumbersome journeys to the city center.