As the first country affected by the Ebola virus in 2014, the Republic of Guinea’s weakened public health infrastructure is still recovering from the devastating impact of this epidemic. Today, the country has less than ten physician anaesthesia providers, 40 nurse anaesthetists and a cadre of auxiliary anaesthesia providers. The struggle to care for 12,000,000 citizens
“There are only four medical anaesthetists in the entire country, and no standardized programme for anaesthesia training. The doctors here have studied in France, in Moscow; the technicians have learned on the job. There wasn’t a single working pulse oximeter in the main operating block in Donka.” Ebola is devastating the already-frail healthcare system in Guinea. We saw
The MV Africa Mercy is the largest charitable hospital ship in the world, providing free surgical services (primarily facial reconstruction, benign tumor excision, cataract removal and child orthopaedics) to the African countries Mercy Ships visits on a rotating basis. A repurposed Danish passenger ferry, she took to the seas in 2007 after a very useful bridge built
