By Mohamed Fadlu Bah
A team of ten doctors, led by Dr. Cesar Ramtrez from Spain, has completed the provision of free surgical operations to hundreds of Sierra Leoneans.
Reports say they arrived on Sunday 16th June 2019. The surgeries are being done under the umbrella of Surgeons in Action and Hernia International. The surgical operation started on the 16th of June, 2019 up to the 21st of June 2019, at the Connaught and Police Hospitals in Freetown. (Photo: The Hernia International Doctors pose at the famous Cotton Tree in Freetown). Speaking to this reporter, Dr. Cesar Ramtrez, leader of the doctors, disclosed that the one-week surgical operation in the country was geared towards providing free surgical operation and over 300 kg of medicines and surgical materials worth over fifty thousand dollars to hundreds of Sierra Leoneans. Dr. Ramtrez named the host of doctors as Dr. Teresa Butren, Dr. Jose M Moran, Dr. Hermeunda Pardeuas, and Dr. Guadawre Moreno. The three Anaesthetists included Dr. Sandra Casares, Dr. Beatrice Fort, Dr. Salvatore Catania. And the two nurses were Francis Gomez and Silvestra Barrena. He said they have been to many other countries including Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South American and Asian countries, where they had been providing free surgical operations. “But this is the first time we are in Sierra Leone,” Dr. Cesar Ramtrez noted. He said that we have good doctors who are passionate about their careers and ready to learn in order to perform the same operations they are doing. He ended by calling on the government of Sierra Leone to empower more doctors, as he said our country has potential doctors who assisted them well in operating theatres during their stay in Freetown as compared to other hospitals in other countries.