Duke University medical team sets up OR to provide needed surgery in Uganda

It is a huge undertaking to set up a new surgical operating room under the best of conditions. And the team from Duke University have set up an OR in Uganda by shipping the needed equipment thousands of miles away from North Carolina.

The equipment will provide hope for dozens of sick people who have traveled to Uganda from various parts of the African continent to receive much-needed medical help.

Dr. Michael Hagland leads the team from Duke, and when he arrived in Uganda, he was welcomed to the country with traditional prayers and song.

"You are most welcome" here, said Patrick Luwaga, deputy director of Mengo Hospital, the home base for the team from Duke during their visit to Africa. "It sounded like a dream, but now it's a reality."

A team from the Triangle unpacked the equipment and sorted out the medical tools that will be used. As the unpacking was underway, the Duke physicians were consulting with patients to assess their conditions and needs.

Some of the patients' health needs have progressed beyond what medical intervention can do, which was the case with a prospective female patient.

"She would die on the table," Hagland said, referring to one of the people who sought medical help. "Knowing that ahead of time and still doing an operation is not correct. That's not a morally right thing to do."

Part of the program involves having patients who can afford to pay the hospital a small amount for the surgery that will be performed. This will offset the cost of other surgeries where patients have no ability to pay.

The team from Duke does not charge for their service since it is a humanitarian undertaking, but they want to help Mengo Hospital keep the program afloat when they return to Raleigh.

"It's a new economic model that we hope will help make this sustainable long-term," Hagland said.

Kim Rash, an American missionary living with her husband in Uganda, needs neck surgery. She is the first paying patient in the program.

"When Dr. Hagland said there's a professional medical staff that comes from Duke University Hospital, it gave us such comfort and confidence," Rash said.

After conducting medical assessments, their list of patients that will be treated is narrowed down to 24, although it will rise to 30 by the end of the week. Hagland said his team regrets having to turn some patients away.

"It's really hard," he said. "Because some of the stuff is just too hard to do."

Brian Makutano suffers from spina bifida and traveled with his parents from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda, a 10-hour drive. The 7-year-old boy is scheduled to receive surgery to repair his spine from pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Gerry Grant, who works for Stanford Medicine. Grant used to work at Duke and now brings his own small team to help in Uganda.

"This really should be dramatic for him, and it protects him in the future," Grant said. "So, it will change his life."

Other patients said they hope their surgery will be the answer to their prayers.

Amina Marsal is the wife of a patient who suffers from a tumor.

"I wish all the best to the doctors of America for what they have done," Marsal said. "I never expected this to be done."

Hagland said he prays with the patients before he performs a medical procedure on them.

"We'll do our very best job, and then I will leave it in the Lord's hands," he said. "That way I can sleep at night and know it's not all about me."