US doctors perform free brain tumor operations

Haglund together with local doctors and nurses carry out a tumor operation on a patient at Mulago Hospital By Eddie Sejjoba A team of neurosurgeons from the United States of America on Monday carried out nine brain tumor and spinal operations at Mulago Hospital. The beneficiaries included one senior government official and two babies. The 22-man team was led by Prof. Michael Haglund, nurses and other support staff from Duke University in North Carolina. The cases were among the 50 which were scheduled to be done in five days. They arrived on Saturday and worked closely with four senior neurosurgeons and other medical staff from the neurosurgical and the orthopedics departments of Mulago. Haglund handed over modern medical equipment worth $1m. The equipment will be used to handle complicated surgical cases. Michael Edgar Muhumuza, the head of the neurosurgical unit, said one complex brain operation in a US hospital costs over $50,000 minus insurance and transport costs. He added that the same operation is done at a cost of over $10,000 in Kenya. “This camp is a huge contribution towards Mulago Hospital and the Government because the 50 cases we are going to handle with the visiting team would cost billions if we were to refer them abroad,” he said. Muhumuza said the team would also train the neurosurgeons and orthopedics staff how to handle complex cases.