The La Paz and Ramón y Cajal university hospitals, public centers in the Community of Madrid, have received a visit for their training from two surgeons from the Bugando Medical Center Hospital in Mwanza, in Tanzania. The stay of Dr. Emmanuel Motega and Dr. Fidelis Mbunda, lasting four months in Madrid and supported by the Ministry of Health of the Government of Tanzania, aims to develop a Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery Unit in their center of origin after completing his rotation in Europe as part of a cooperation program between the center of origin and a consortium of international organizations such as the Spanish Foundation for Health Cooperation, the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences of Tanzania and the Smile House Fondazione, of Italy.
The surgeons, presented to the center’s International Cooperation Group by Dr. Acero, head of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service, will continue their training period in the United Kingdom before returning to their country, from where they will maintain communication and continued support. even with visits for specific missions in situ, with the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Service of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital and other international medical teams, being able to open up to cooperation in other specialties as was proposed during the meeting with the International Cooperation Group of the University Hospital Ramon y Cajal.
Both doctors were rotating in the Maxillofacial Surgery Service of the La Paz University Hospital, led by Dr. José Luis Cebrian. From La Paz it is proposed that this collaboration can be maintained over time, after the signing of a collaboration agreement, the objective of which is that both Tanzanian surgeons and nursing staff can complete their training in Spain.
This is a long-term sustainable project that aims to provide coverage for the treatment of oral and cranio-maxillofacial surgical pathology in the Lake Victoria region with more than 20 million inhabitants. Currently there is no center prepared to cover this pathology, especially the most frequent ones such as malformations, tumors and traumas. The serious situation of lack of assistance extends to neighboring countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, so the project’s long-term objective is the creation of a Center of Excellence that can contribute to improving the situation in the entire region in the future. This project has the precedent of other training projects developed by Dr. Acero during his presidency of the Education Committee of the IAOMS, World Society of the specialty, projects that helped the consolidation of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Services in the university hospitals in Nairobi and Dar Es Salam, capitals of Kenya and Tanzania.
Bugando Project
The project, inspired by Dr. García-Marín, a Spanish maxillofacial surgeon, began with a visit by cooperators to the “Bugando Medical Center” Hospital and is based on the idea that sporadic cooperation missions can solve specific but long-term problems. It is necessary to create a structure that maintains permanent specialized assistance. For this reason, in addition to providing a training period for young African specialists, it contributes to improving infrastructure and equipment in the hospitals of origin.
-kLF--1920x1080@Leonoticias.jpg "The Christmas angels arrive at the Plaza de Regla")
