Abstract

GABILONDO, Javier. Collaboration agreement between Ayder Hospital and Ethiopia-Utopía NGO. Cir. plást. iberolatinoam. [online]. 2016, vol.42, n.3, pp.299-306. ISSN 1989-2055.

In the ambit of of July 2014 agreement between the Basque Health Service/Osakidetza and the University Hospital Ayder of Mekelle in Ethiopia, collaboration in response to the demand center needs was initiated, including Plastic Surgery, through the nongovernmental organization Ethiopia-Utopia. One of the objectives embodied collaboration with Orthopedics and General Surgery, as well as in assisting burned patients. Maintenance objectives, infrastructure and other no less important specialties are also defined. We started with a stay of one month, from March to April 2015, working in consultation rooms and performing 18 surgeries in 17 patients, in addition to treating teaching and hospital aspects. Later on, we follow with a second stay between June and July 2016, this time with the collaboration of local plastic surgeons and 38 surgical procedures performed. We emphasized about the necessary integration with the medical and health personnel through medical residents to break the language barrier and get in communication with patients who only expressed in the indigenous languages. Overcome and critically reflected upon the results of the first contacts, the experience led us to realize the objectives more precisely and raise them from the perspective of the field of Plastic Surgery, not only in the care of burn patients, but to meet a different demand for care, more adapted to reality. We describe our experience in 3 aspects: care, teaching and information for the prevention of burns, which are also influenced by material inputs and necessary changes, so that the results are certainly for improvement but also critically successful except the goal of prevention.

Keywords : Humanitarian Plastic Surgery; Reconstructive Surgery; Congenital malformations; Burns.

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