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Surgery

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Surgery

From urgent surgery after a bomb blast in a war zone to emergency caesarean sections for women with complicated deliveries, our skilled surgical teams perform tens of thousands of life-saving operations every year.

The work falls into four major categories: infection/wound surgery, war surgery/major trauma, obstetric surgery and specialised constructive surgery. Equipment and anaesthetic drugs vary according to the nature of the project.

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) surgeons and anaesthetists may find themselves working in a state-of-the-art facility, a mobile surgical unit or a temporary inflatable hospital.

Jennifer Tong operating on a patient in Gaza
Jennifer Tong MSF
Jennifer Tong
Surgeon
Gaza: Helping Sunny Boy walk again
Jennifer Tong, an Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) surgeon from Hong Kong, shares the story of Sunny Boy – a young Palestinian she helped recover from a gunshot wound.
17 Jan 2019 / 4 minute read
Martin Kašpar MSF
Martin Kašpar
Surgeon
Why I’ll never forget my first day as a surgeon in Iraq
Martin Kašpar is a Czech surgeon currently on his first assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the city of al Qayyarah, Iraq. In this blog, he writes about his dramatic first day, treating young patients involved in tragic incidents.
17 Aug 2018 / 5 minute read
Mukul Singhal
Surgeon
Zehra’s story: "Her smile can light up the entire hospital"
Orthopaedic surgeon Mukul Singhal recently returned from Jordan, where MSF provides medical and psychological care to war-wounded patients from Syria. He tells the story of an inspiring young patient and her family...
19 Jan 2018 / 3 minute read
Kariantti Kallio
Anaesthetics
In the operating room: Yemen, Day 15
School is out for the summer in Yemen, but the cholera outbreak and ongoing civil war show no signs of slowing down. Anesthesiologist Kariantti blogs from Khameer...
18 Jun 2017 / 3 minute read
Kariantti Kallio
Anaesthetics
In the operating room: Yemen, Day 12
MSF anesthesiologist Kariantti follows up on a young patient who had been shot in the abdomen...
15 Jun 2017 / 1 minute read
Tomas Sebek
Surgeon
Surgery in South Sudan: Facing death
Surgeon Tomas blogs about an emergency surgery on an eighteen year old girl in South Sudan.
14 Jun 2017 / 8 minute read
Kariantti Kallio
Anaesthetics
In the operating room: Yemen, Day 9
Anesthesiologist Kariantti and the team feel the pressure as the MSF hospital in Khameer faces a lack of beds and an impending cholera outbreak...
12 Jun 2017 / 2 minute read
Kariantti Kallio
Anaesthetics
In the operating room: Yemen, Day 6
MSF anaesthesiologist Kariantti blogs about young patients in the intensive care unit
09 Jun 2017 / 2 minute read
Tomas Sebek
Surgeon
Surgery in South Sudan: the bald surgeon
Tomas discusses surgeries, head shaving and landmines his account of a normal day in South Sudan.
08 Jun 2017 / 7 minute read
Kariantti Kallio
Anaesthetics
In the operating room: Yemen, Day 3
Yemen is in the grip of a brutal civil war, and millions of people there have no access to healthcare. From emergency c-sections to exploratory surgery, anaesthesiologist Kariantti blogs about the first three days of his new assignment...
06 Jun 2017 / 3 minute read
Tomas Sebek
Surgeon
Surgery in South Sudan: Let's not confuse the baby's back with its bottom...
Surgeon Tomas operates on various patients, including a a child needing a gastrostomy, a boy with a broken leg and delivers a baby.
31 May 2017 / 6 minute read
Hella Hultin
Surgeon
Yemen: The little girl is losing oxygen
Hella Hultin is a surgeon from Sweden. She is currently on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Khameer, Yemen. Here she blogs about a little patient returning to the operating theatre for a second time, in desperate need of medical care.
13 Apr 2017 / 2 minute read

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Florian Lems/MSF
Fieldset
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