Journey of 1000 Miles Starts with One Small Step
Dr. Innocent Okello (left) and Dr. Abdullah Saleh, his mentor (right)
What a step it was! Dr. Innocent Okello, a pediatric surgeon from Kampala, Uganda spent the better part of a year at the Stollery Children's Hospital for a Global Pediatric General Surgery Fellowship. In June, Dr. Okello presented his experiences with us over the past year and the skills and leadership training that he has gained will go towards creating an impact for pediatric surgery and care in Uganda. In addition to learning new surgical skills, Dr. Okello's main objectives were to understand the needs and opportunities for pediatric surgery in low and middle- income countries (LMIC) and to understand the value of global partnerships.
In Uganda, post-surgical outcomes for children are significantly lower than in Canada. Of the of 45 million, 40% are under the age of 18 and there are eight pediatric surgeons to serve that age group. Areas of critical care, minimal invasive surgery and trauma care are not as developed as they are in Canada. Dr. Okello has not only accomplished these skills for his own use in the OR in Uganda, but he has the tools to train pediatric surgeons in Uganda and Eastern Africa.
Now back home, Dr. Okello will continue to communicate with his mentor, Dr. Abdullah Saleh, for case discussions and procedures along with other surgeons, physicians, nurses and staff he met while working in Edmonton. In addition to utilizing and teaching these new surgical skills, he can provide leadership in system changes that improve patient care and efficiencies. Dr. Okello will continue to collaborate with his former colleagues at the UofA on research to advance pediatric surgical care and quality improvement in LMIC.
Dr. Saleh said "We are thankful to the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation for making this happen and the gracious colleagues that participated in training Innocent and giving him these opportunities and of course our patients here are the Stollery that we work hard to take care of everyday. " In his acknowledgements Dr. Okello also thanked the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, as well as the the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, and the Office of Global Surgery for facilitating the fellowship and his colleagues and supervisors in Uganda for covering his work during his fellowship. He added "Expose one person to something and then that one person exposes many more people to new ways of doing surgeries with better outcomes and new skills". We wish you all the best in providing that exposure Dr. Okello!
If you'd like more information on the Pediatric Global Surgery Fellowship or the Global Surgery and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship that the Office of Global Surgery facilitates, click here. We are now accepting applications until August 15 for July 1, 2023 start.