The main place we wanted to visit in India was Duncan Hospital. It is part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association network which is a Christian organization that has lots of hospitals throughout northern India and is led by Indians and staffed by I would guess 98% Indians at least. Most of the doctors are from southern India which has a much higher concentration of Christians than the north. They are as much missionaries as I would be in the sense that most are thousands of miles from their families and their children are in boarding schools equally far away. They get a few western physicians that come for a while, but their focus is on equipping Indians to serve Indians. I love the organization and have huge respect for the work they're doing. Duncan Hospital is the largest of EHA's hospitals. They have 2 fulltime surgeons whom we spent most of our time with. Dr Sunil (in picture below) is the senior surgeon and heads up the medical aspects of the hospital. The other surgeon is a female- Dr Minee or something like that- I never actually saw her name printed but everyone called her "Mini".
We were amazed at how much time they spent with us while we were there. Kerwyn and I basically hung out with the surgeons everyday and had some really neat conversations along the way. We went into the trip wanting to explore further how we could best serve the people of India specifically with my training in surgery and the staff there seemed to understand this. It became clear to us that they really don't need another surgeon here- not to say that there isn't the need for surgeons in other parts of India or the world, but not here.
What they seemed most interested in was bouncing ideas off of me and seeing how we do things in the US. They are not as advanced as we are with laparoscopic surgery (minimally invasive surgery) and really wanted me to teach them how to do some bigger surgeries laparoscopically. Unfortunately for them, I am rusty after a year off and don't have a strong liking for laparoscopic surgery. Either way, it gave me motivation to care more about laparoscopic surgery knowing that I could take these skills overseas and train other surgeons in them. It blows my mind to realize I've already done as much or more laparoscopic surgery than their most senior surgeon and I'm only through 2 years of my surgical training.
Through several conversations we got varying views on how the west could best come alongside them. They all acknowledged the barriers to westerners really being effective in a missionary capacity compared to native Indians. One physician said, "Jesus didn't ask who would pay but who would go" which was definitely food for thought. Other than that physician the others seemed to suggest us adopting more of a supporting role in what they are doing- pray for them, send money, come for shorter terms and teach them different techniques, watch for equipment hospitals are getting rid of as they upgrade and send it to their hospitals.... It was amazing as they showed us around how much of their equipment that allows them to do what they do was donated from overseas- for example, all of their laparoscopic equipment was sent when a hospital in Germany or somewhere was upgrading their equipment. I had never thought that big before- that I could help them get valuable equipment that our hospitals would probably just dispose of that would enable them to provide a higher level of care than before its arrival.
So all in all, we had a fantastic time with them. They would love to have others visit so let me know if you ever want to go and I'll give you their contact information. I have no doubt that we will visit Duncan Hospital and hopefully many of their other hospitals when I finish my training and have much more surgical experience and skill to offer. When and where we go and for how long are up to God but we're certainly enjoying the journey and open to wherever God leads.
