With the original Salone AMHSI pilot centre at Kono set up in June ’23 thriving under the very able stewardship of Abbot, the appetite for expansion of the project has been growing. With excellent results there (79 repairs, meticulously followed up), the country specific proof of concept that we sought is now backed up with solid data and a very positive implementation experience.
Whilst healthcare resources remain very limited in country, the Hatfield Archer Memorial Hospital (HAM) in Rotifunk has an excellent reputation and a solid tradition of innovation. Following an application process, it was selected as the next centre for induction into this workstream. In late February / early March Lesley travelled out from the UK and joined up with Abbot, arriving at HAM as a truly global bipartisan faculty, epitomising our underlying aspirations and approach at SWIFTSS.
Despite some minor issues with the provided autoclave, the local team adapted well. The induction programme also included further evolution of our low cost high fidelity simulation models (v3) – more news about that in due course. Overall, the induction went very well and we are delighted that a second centre has been successfully established in Sierra Leone under the leadership of Tommy. Excellent work!
Lesley’s longstanding commitment to Sierra Leone has achieved, and continues to achieve, many things. In addition to the AMHSI work, she had arranged to provide a ‘Training the Surgical Trainer’ course for 6 Surgical officer trainers at Magbenteh Community Hospital, Makeni – another example of our sustainable approach to Global Surgery. Following this, there was another exciting dynamic to be celebrated – a collaborative project with the Colo-Link group (an emerging development from the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI)). Sanjay Choudray (UK) and Jen Watt (UK) joined Lesley and Abbot to provide a Basic Skills and Abdominal Surgery course in Makeni to newly qualified surgical officers. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all, went very well and was very well received. Well done all.