Sala heads for Africa
Ealing Surgeon Sala Abdalla is making final preparations for her fourth overseas trip to West Africa.
The founder of charity Operation International UK (OIUK) will head a team of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists helping people in Ghana who can’t afford to pay for surgical procedures, such as hernias, gallbladder and stomach operations.
The previous visit saw 500 people waiting outside a rural hospital for the team’s arrival including one woman who had travelled eight hours and was sleeping in the hospital grounds.
Sala said: “We only had one week of surgeries, so triaged as many patients as possible and carried out close to 150 operations in five days.
“It does make you reflect on how much more efficient we could be with both our resources and time in the NHS. We take so much for granted but when you have less to work with you become far more focused and resourceful.
“I’ve learnt a lot from working overseas. Ideally, we should be doing more minimally invasive 'keyhole' surgery because the recovery time is quicker and a lot of these people need to get back to work as soon as possible.”
Sala, who came to the UK as a ten-year-old refugee from Sudan, is aware of the disparity of healthcare where people with money get treated and those who don’t live in pain and face premature death for otherwise treatable conditions.
A silent companion is her late father who passed away from a heart condition after being driven to a succession of hospitals in the Sudan where he was told there wasn’t a suitable clinician or equipment available until it was too late.
“It was a tragic and a completely unnecessary death which is played out in many parts of the world because basic healthcare isn’t readily available to many people. It is something I have felt passionate about since I was a child and my reason for becoming a doctor.”
Sala’s first foray into charitable work was six years ago when she spent a week with Operation Hernia as a senior Surgical Registrar. The five-person team managed to complete more than 80 procedures, despite power cuts and limited drugs.
“I loved it and things just progressed from there,” said the 39-year-old mother of one who works as a general surgeon at Ealing Hospital and used her daughter’s first birthday as a fundraiser for OIUK.
Sala added: “I still perform surgery when I am overseas but have the added responsibility for all the logistics from organising accommodation and flights to finding volunteers to fundraising activities. I am grateful to my two charity trustees who have been instrumental in assisting with planning for the missions.”
The charity’s next trip to Ghana is at the end of the year but Sala’s long-term goal is to create a pool of clinical volunteers that can come together under one umbrella organisation.
"I have met a lot of clinical colleagues who are interested in volunteering but don’t know how or where to go about getting involved. I’ve met with the Royal College of Surgeons and am hopeful that we coordinate our efforts.”