Laparoscopic Miracles - A Report by Dr. Paul McKernan on their trip to Uganda

Check out the great work Dr. Paul McKernan did with four other physicians in performing and teaching medical procedures in Uganda!

This is his report!

I am writing with regard to a recent medical mission I conducted to Kampala, Uganda, for the express purpose of teaching operative laparoscopy skills to the OB/GYN physicians and residency staff of Mulago Hospital at Makerere University School of Medicine. My group, (comprised of four physicians from Phoenix, AZ, and a laparoscopic surgical technician) worked for four days in the operating theater of Mulago Hospital at the invitation of Dr. Josephat (Chairman of the Dept. OB/GYN). Our specific days in the O.R. were 1/25/10 to 1/28/10. On previous missions (2005, 2006 and 2009), I and other physicians took over donated laparoscopic equipment (insufflators, wolf end coagulator, cameras, light sources, and laparoscopes). These were set up and left for the benefit of the OB/GYN physicians in Kampala, Uganda. In 2009, I worked with the same department chairman (Dr. Josephat) and we set up the first GYN laparoscopic unit in Mulago

Hospital. In 2009 we performed five GYN laparoscopic procedures, in a teaching setting for the GYN department staff and resident physicians. On this particular (2010) mission, we successfully performed ten laparoscopic surgeries on local patients who came to us via the residents and attending staff. Our team member anesthesiologists trained and worked with the anesthesia residents at (Mulago Hospital) to teach them the particulars of anesthesia safety for the laparoscopic procedures. My team members pay for their own expenses, and we are sponsored by Reach The Children an NGO through whom we organize the trips.

Paul D. McKernan, MD, FACOG

Diplomat, American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists