AN-NYA Foundation

The AN-NYA Foundation is committed to promoting safe, timely and affordable surgical care in underserved areas.

The focus of our local volunteer members is on theoretical and practical training in surgical disciplines (surgery, gynecology and obstetrics) and anesthesia.

https://www.an-nya-globalsurgery.org/

Mission report in Hargeisa Group Hospital June 2023

And already we are on the plane back home, but it feels like we have been gone for an incredibly long time. Just under two weeks ago, our five-k.pf team met at Zurich Airport, four of them totally excited for their very first deployment in this setting.

The team includes:

Peter Nussbaumer / Dr. Peter (2nd from left), the man with the experience, the president of AN-NYA Foundation and our esteemed team leader- Sascha Rausch / Dr. Sascha (5th from left), a heart and soul traumatologist with a wealth of experience regarding Arab culture- Robert Stein / Dr. Robert (6th from left), experienced thoracic surgeon and the one who hit the nail on the head again and again, with sometimes painful clarity and pure British English. Eleonor Abbühl / Eli (1st from left), the charming scrub nurse with infectious energy and me, Alice Osterwalder / Dr. Alice (4th from left) "the youngster surgeon" with a big backpack full of motivation to teach as well as to learn.

After arriving early in the morning in Hargeisa, Somaliland, after a short break in the hotel, we went directly to the hospital, through the capital of the  32 year old state.

The hospital consists of numerous individual houses with only one floor and mostly only one room. The general surgery and the orthopedics are two separate clinics, each with a Head of Department, some fully trained specialists and together 13 residents from two universities. Unfortunately, no one has an internationally recognized degree in surgery/orthopedics and the diversity of training could not be greater (Ethiopia, Syria, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, Egypt, etc.). There is an OR with five rooms, an "intensive care unit", four surgical wards (male, female, orthopedic and war ward) and the private and VIP departments. The emergency department is run as a separate clinic.

Our daily routine soon got carried away by the prevailing, structureless flow. The drivers were supposed to pick us up at the hotel at 07:40 in order to start at the hospital around 8. We were never on time. After that we mostly split up: Dr. Sascha was quickly integrated into the orthopedic team and was an integral part of their program for many days. Eli spent a lot of time in the OR analyzing the situation, taking pictures of current problems and trying to pass on topics such as hygiene rules, compiling the surgical trays, folding the sterile aprons, etc. in one-on-one teaching at the table or as a lecture. We three "general surgeons" attended the consultation hours and watched the twice-weekly surgery program. 

At 2 p.m. there were lectures on various surgical topics for the entire team. In addition to the daily hospital routine, we visited the University of Hargeisa (one of three in the capital and five in the country). In Somaliland, the training of residents is the responsibility of the university, the hospital only provides the training vessel with the patients. The biggest success of the outreach was the signing of an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), which means that the AN-NYA Foundation now has an official training contract from the university.

Our vision for this project....

To establish a residency program in General Surgery modeled after the COSECSA (College of Surgeons of East/ Central and Southern Africa) curriculum so that the general surgeons trained here can earn an internationally recognized degree. Ideally, this program would include a rotation to Sallaxley and other district hospitals for experienced residents to improve basic surgical care, not only in the capital but also in rural areas. One more step to strengthen the goal of "Emergency and essential surgical care and anesthesia" set in the 68th World Health Assembly.