A SURGICAL team from Gifhorn in Germany is currently performing free hernia surgeries at the Katutura State Hospital.
This is the third time that minimally invasive hernia operations are being done by the volunteer doctors.Last year’s lead surgeon, Dr Matthias Rohr, was in Namibia for two weeks performing the same operations. After the two weeks last year he decided to move to Namibia and since April he has been working in the Katutura State Hospital as a specialist general surgeon.This year he is joined by Dr Ingo Klute, who is the chief surgeon in Gifhorn, and anaesthetist Dr Rudiger Lohr.Together the three surgeons will perform operations on 30 patients over the next two weeks. They have also brought with them medical supplies and equipment donated to the Ministry of Health and Social Services by various companies in Germany. Doctors from the private sector and the public health service were invited to watch the operations.ErongoMed and Covidien donated about N$500 000 worth of equipment as well as the use of various machines which the doctors need for the operations. With the use of minimally invasive surgery the patients’ hospital stay is drastically shortened, there is much less pain and the recurrence rate drops. Minister of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi said that the hospital’s surgery department hopes to set up a minimally invasive surgery laboratory, an amphitheatre and a conference room in the near future.This is envisaged to become a centre to train Namibian surgeons as well as surgeons from the Southern African region. At the moment no such facility exists in the whole of SADC to train surgeons.’The hernia camp has been organised and structured to begin introducing hernia surgery using laparoscopy to many of our medical officers in the hospital,’ Kamwi said.’The focus is on teaching and training a new skill that will in the long run contribute to better quality care and much more cost effectiveness. This is therefore an important beginning.’
