The Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons of Spain for the World (COEM) has surpassed in the first 11 months of this year the number of patients treated during the whole of 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, at its centre of activity, located at the Notre Dame de la Santé Hospital of the Servants of Mary in Dschang (West Cameroon).
While in 2019 the total number of consultations was 2,883, between January and November 2021 it was 3,784. In addition, 2,340 cures and casts and 354 surgeries have been performed. 60% of the surgeries have been performed by local staff trained by this NGO over the past five years. "It is precisely the training of local staff, together with the continuity of care, that has allowed us to continue attending to the population of the area despite the limitations on travel during the pandemic, as the expeditions of Spanish specialists were not able to resume until last May," explained the Dr. Tomás Epeldegui, president of COEM.
The Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons of Spain for the World (COEM), which now has more than 400 volunteers, was born in 2014 from the concern of a group of orthopaedic surgeon friends to share their experience and provide ongoing assistance and training to those who do not have specialised care in Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology. "This is a speciality that requires long postoperative follow-ups, which can only be achieved with a permanent presence of the team at the place where the care has been provided. Our aim is to remain in the place where we provide our collaboration through continuous rotation of teams of specialists," explains Dr. Epeldegui.
In the early years of the work, most of the assistance, both in the consulting room and in the operating theatre, was provided by Spanish volunteers, but as the training of local medical and nursing staff has progressed, the statistics for local staff have grown.
Since September 2015, he has been working at Notre Dame de la Santé Hospital.The president notes that "thanks to the generosity of colleagues, some hospitals and the medical industry, among others has been able to set up a basic structure to successfully carry out its activity. To carry out the continuous monitoring of patients ("as far as we know, there is no NGO that does this, only specific projects", adds Epeldegui) required by the speciality of Traumatology, the expeditions are carried out every 3-4 weeks and last 8 days, with the exception of the period between February 2020 and May 2021, when the patients were attended by the doctors that the NGO has been training since their arrival.
The expeditions to the African country are made up of volunteer traumatologists, anaesthesiologists and nurses who also pay for their own travel expenses. "All the money that the association receives goes to surgical facilities and materials that we donate to the hospital; we have no staff or administrative costs," stresses the Dr. MartiCOEM treasurer.
From 2015 to November 2021, almost 1,900 surgical interventions have been carried out, more than 16,000 consultations have been attended and more than 8,200 cures and casts have been performed. In addition, "the activity has been extended to other specialities, the hospital has been enlarged and employment is being generated for the local population, among other benefits", concludes Dr. Truan, secretary of the association, who stresses that "everything has been carried out in 60 campaigns lasting 8 days, that is, only 12 weeks of work each year".