MEDEVAC Senegal

 Cooperation between ENT department of the Regional hospital in Thies in Senegal and the ENT departments (both adult and pediatric one) of the University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic as part of the Czech government's health and humanitarian program MEDEVAC have been running since 2017. Every year, except for 2020, 10-day missions have taken place in Thies with surgical procedures performed simultaneously in three operating rooms. Gradually, based on the progress in mutual cooperation and organization of the mission, the number of operated patients increased from 35 in 2017 to 76 in 2023. African doctors under the guidance of Czech specialists partially participate in the surgeries, thus intensive education of their surgical erudition takes place. The importance of the missions clearly goes beyond the borders of the Thies region, but also affects other doctors in Senegal and in other, especially West African countries, whose doctors come to Thies for the mission period and are educated there.

During previous missions, we have repeatedly stated that the ENT department in Thies is not adequately or at all equipped with some basic technical equipment for performing ENT operatives. That is why it is great achievement that at the end of 2022 it was possible to deliver the missing medical equipment and instruments cover by donation from MEDEVAC funds. The staff in Thies was educated and trained, and the donated instruments and equipment were used in surgeries within the mission in 2023. Thus, it was possible to further expand the spectrum of medical services performed at the ENT department in Thies.
We very positively evaluate that in the period October - November 2023, the internship of two Senegalese doctors took place at University Hospital Motol in Prague. This internship followed the first stay of one Senegalese doctor in Prague in 2022.

December 2023
Prague, Czech Republic

Jan Plzak
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery
1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University
Motol University Hospital
Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC