War Doctor Heroes: Meet Dr Koma
We are delighted to feature Dr Koma Akim, a general surgeon from South Sudan, as our latest War Doctor Hero.
South Sudan is the world's youngest sovereign state, having gained its independence from Sudan in 2011.
Since December 2013, the country has been embroiled in a civil war that has resulted in the displacement of more than 4 million people, and contributed to the endemic poverty that affects 80% of the population. Conflict between nomadic people, particularly over the issues of cattle and grazing rights, has compounded the violence, yet health resources and medical professionals remain scarce.
Dr Akim is one of only a handful of general surgeons in the country, and regularly deals with gunshot and arrow wounds as a result of cattle rustling. Those who make it to his hospital are often in a very bad way, suffering from internal bleeding and broken bones. Without any advanced orthopaedic instruments, Koma must often treat these fractures non-operatively, even though his patients would benefit from external fixators or skeletal traction.
Alongside his work in the district hospital, Dr Akim has also undertaken humanitarian missions in Ganyiel, in the Unity State of South Sudan. Koma recalled performing an emergency C-section for a retained second twin in the midst of the fighting here. In spite of the high maternal mortality associated with this complication, Dr Akim was miraculously able to save the lives of both the mother and her two babies.
These experiences motivated Koma to learn more and enhance his skill set, so that he could continue to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people in his country.
In 2019, Dr Akim attended our London based Surgical Training for the Austere Environment course (STAE). On this training programme, he learnt how to properly expose blood vessels and said “being able to practise it means I have the confidence to do it in a real situation. If I can do it, I can teach it.” This skills-sharing is a vital part of what we as a Foundation hope to achieve. By training one doctor on our course, we give them the knowledge and skills needed to teach countless more.
It is Koma's ambition to become a role model for the next generation of South Sudanese doctors. He hopes to inspire more to become surgeons in order to better serve the people of war torn South Sudan and told us that "my skills and theirs will be more needed here, in South Sudan, than anywhere else in the world."
To help us train more surgeons like Koma, you can make a donation here.
Yemen HEST January 2020
The DNF team, in partnership with MSF Spain, recently returned from our latest mission to Yemen which brought in 31 surgeons from across the country for a specialised five-day training course. Since 2015, Yemen has been the stage of one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes. Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens have already lost their lives, and as the fighting continues, many more are in need of urgent medical treatment and supplies. At the front-lines of this conflict are the surgeons and medics who face the challenge of saving lives without losing their own, all the while limited by a lack of resources and insufficient training.
Our Hostile Environment Surgical Training course (HEST) was designed to confront this problem. Over the course of five days, our Faculty, comprising David Nott, Ammar Darwish, Pippa Letchworth, Pete Mathew and Rebekka Troller instructed surgeons on a wide range of trauma topics. By equipping these medics with the necessary knowledge, confidence and skills that they need to treat patients, we can improve the medical outcome for countless people.
The regions where HEST is taught often rule out cadaveric teaching, so the Foundation’s whole body simulator, Heston, was employed for training. This state of the art, bespoke simulator mimics the look and feel of real human flesh and features the full range of organs, blood vessels and key anatomies needed for facilitating learning.
Supporting Heston, we also deployed our neonatal models and our new VR learning experience, which simulates a mass casualty event. This immersive experience focuses on the triage of ten patients using International Committee of the Red Cross categories: serious wounds, second priority, superficial wounds and severe wounds.
To date, the Foundation has trained 803 medics across 28 courses, benefiting an estimated 1.7 million patients. Through this global network of war doctors, we can raise the standard of medical care worldwide and continue to save more lives and limbs. To help us train even more surgeons, you can donate here.