KDD VISITS IVORY COAST OCTOBER 2017

During October 2017 two missions of KDD were organised simultaneously: a seventh mission to Bonoua Ivory Coast and a first trial to Ouagadougou capital of Burkina Faso.

Bonoua
Orthopaedists Ad Ooms and Napoleon Coene spend 11 days in Don Oreone Medical center and operated a total of 20 patients half children and half adults.
The absence of the usual anaesthetist and instrumentalist assistant had serious repercussions on the working ritme and did limit the number of patients finally being treated.
It was discussed with father Angelo, director of the centre,, whether KDD should limit itself to one mission a year and thus being able to focus on children only.
For 2018 we will probably plan one mission with a full medical team .

Ougadougou
The team for Ougadougou consisted of orthopaedists Dick van der Schaaf and Jan Vermeiren accompanied by anaesthetist Rob Steur and instrumentalist Sharon Pinkse. Photographer Mikel Samuels followed the team during a week.
Although the original idea was to operate out of the Don Orione medical center we had to switch to an alternative as the operation room was not yet equipped.
A collaboration was started with the regional hospital Paul 6 just a few miles away.
Together with drĀ  Eustache Kalmogho and his local team during these two weeks a number of 37 children were treated ranging from clubfeet X and O deformities.
Contacts were made with the university to offer scholarships to local medicine students during our presence in the future.
As we left a waiting list of 15 children was already established for our next visit
in 2018.


In the mean time KDD would like to collect funding in order to equip an operation room in the Don Orione center of Ouga preferably with second hand material obtained from closing hospital in the Netherlands and / or the non profit organisation Medic in Apeldoorn.