Cheng Leo, Cheng Hilary, Parker Gary
Consultant Oral, Maxillofacial, Head and Neck Surgeon, St Bartholomew's, The Royal London and Homerton University Hospitals, London, UK.
Volunteer Maxillofacial, Thyroid and Reconstructive Surgeon, M/V The Africa Mercy, The Mercy Ships, West Africa.
J Oral Biol Craniofac Res. 2022 Jan-Feb;12(1):121-153. doi: 10.1016/j.jobcr.2021.10.010. Epub 2021 Nov 13.
Two-thirds of the world population do not have access to safe, affordable and timely surgery. This global surgical crisis largely affects low and middle-income countries, and it will surpass the challenges created by communicable diseases. The barriers of access to surgery range from cost of surgery and patient transportation to availability and quality of surgical infrastructure and providers. Mercy Ships is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) providing free world-class life-saving and life-transforming surgery to the poorest of the poor in West Africa. In order to address barriers to access surgical assessment and care, Mercy Ships switched from centralised patient selection mainly in port cities or capitals to decentralised selection strategy staffed by experienced nursing teams travelling to remote locations nearer to patients' homes. In this way, the under-served rural population is given equal opportunity to access Mercy Ships' free specialised surgical services. In each country served by the Mercy Ships, a 5 year country engagement program is created to focus on improving the quality of life for people living with disease, disfigurement and disability through free direct medical service to reduce the burden of unmet surgical needs. Moreover, our Medical Capacity Building teams concentrate in improving infrastructure and quality control, equipment donation and maintenance. Lastly, Mercy Ships partner with government and policy makers to improve and strengthen their local surgical care delivery system as an indispensable part of the healthcare system. In this vast sea of global surgical crisis, the vision of the Mercy Ships is to eradicate the 'disease of poverty' and effectively do itself out of a job. Mercy Ships' new and the world's largest (37,000 ton) purpose-built hospital ship, the is joining our current ship, the (16,500 ton) to save lives and to strengthen local surgical care service. This will more than double our capacity and impact in sub-Saharan Africa following COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover our state-of-art on-board simulation laboratories and traditional practical training of local healthcare providers will further enhance and build their medical capacity. The will become the largest floating and training platform to train next generation African medical and health care professionals so that they can save countless lives by training others in the future. We therefore invite you to partner with us in bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor in West Africa.
全球三分之二的人口无法获得安全、可负担且及时的外科手术。这场全球外科手术危机在很大程度上影响着低收入和中等收入国家，其严峻程度将超过传染病带来的挑战。获得外科手术的障碍包括手术费用、患者交通成本，以及外科手术基础设施和医护人员的可及性与质量。“仁慈号”是一个非政府组织（NGO），为西非最贫困的人群提供免费的世界级救生和改变生活的外科手术。为了解决获得外科评估和护理的障碍，“仁慈号”从主要在港口城市或首都进行集中式患者筛选，转变为采用分散式筛选策略，由经验丰富的护理团队前往更靠近患者家乡的偏远地区开展工作。通过这种方式，服务不足的农村人口获得了平等机会，能够享受到“仁慈号”提供的免费专业外科服务。在“仁慈号”服务的每个国家，都会制定一个为期5年的国家参与计划，专注于通过免费的直接医疗服务，改善患有疾病、身体有缺陷和残疾的人们的生活质量，以减轻未得到满足的外科手术需求所带来的负担。此外，我们的医疗能力建设团队专注于改善基础设施和质量控制、捐赠及维护设备。最后，“仁慈号”与政府和政策制定者合作，改善并加强当地的外科护理服务体系，使其成为医疗体系中不可或缺的一部分。在这场全球外科手术危机的广阔浪潮中，“仁慈号”的愿景是根除“贫困之疾”，并有效地让自己无需再履行职责。“仁慈号”新的、也是世界上最大的（37000吨）特制医院船“非洲仁慈号”，正在加入我们现有的船只“阿纳尼亚斯号”（16500吨），以拯救生命并加强当地的外科护理服务。在新冠疫情之后，这将使我们在撒哈拉以南非洲地区的能力和影响力提升一倍以上。此外，我们先进的船上模拟实验室以及对当地医护人员的传统实践培训，将进一步提升并建设他们的医疗能力。“非洲仁慈号”将成为最大的浮动培训平台，用于培养下一代非洲医疗卫生专业人员，以便他们未来能够通过培训他人拯救无数生命。因此，我们邀请您与我们合作，为西非被遗忘的贫困人口带来希望和治愈。
