Inguinal hernia repair in a developing country.
Hernia surgery is typically same-day surgery and can be safely conducted in a developing country. We describe a collaborative effort of the American Hernia Society, the Institute of Latin American Concerns, medical industries, the United States Peace Corps, physicians, surgical residents and nurses from many institutions. During three 5-day periods, we operated on 236 patients and repaired 252 hernias (73% inguinal). In addition, an education day for local physicians was conducted on three occasions and included televised live surgical demonstrations and interactive lectures with question and answer sessions. We suggest this to be a viable public health initiative and demonstrate the role of surgeons in advancing and providing state-of-the-art inguinal hernia surgery to a developing country and its underserved population.
Turaga
Kiran K
KK
Creighton University Medical Center, 601 N 30th street, Omaha, NE 68131, USA.
Garg
Nitin
N
Coeling
Molly
M
Smith
Kelly
K
Amirlak
Bardia
B
Jaszczak
Nicholas
N
Elliott
Barb
B
Manion
James
J
Filipi
Charles
C
D003906:Developing Countries; D004293:Dominican Republic; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D014481:United States