17/04/2018 Afghanistan

Pakistani cleft-surgeons in Afghanistan

In an intensive deployment, our doctors helped 135 children in Kabul.

In November 2014, Prof. Ghulam Fayyaz, director of the Swiss Cleft-centre in Lahore/Pakistan, was joined by his team of cleft surgeons, anaesthetists, paediatricians and OP nurses on a trip to Kabul in Afghanistan where they operated on and treated 135 cleft-children and juveniles - a moving and dangerous journey. The team had all of their medical equipment with them, including anaesthesia devices, defibrillators, oxygen and medication. In Kabul, the team worked basically day and night: they treated five patients simultaneously throughout in two operating theatres! After fulfilling their mission, they all returned exhausted but safe and sound to their homes in Pakistan. The fact that everything ran so smoothly is due to the exemplary organisation of Prof. Fayyaz, because - as is so often the case - we had to apply for many official permits, visas, etc.: in countries like Pakistan this is often a very long and bureaucratic process.