NEW YORK (PIX11) — Doctors are on a mission to address a worldwide problem of access to adequate healthcare, particularly in underserved communities in Uganda.
According to the World Health Organization ranks, Uganda’s health care system 149th place out of 191 countries. That equates to roughly one doctor per 1,000 people.
Mount Sinai Department of Surgery and the Mount Sinai Diversity Innovation Hub created a diversity initiative that began in 2019. The remote eco-friendly Kyabirwa Surgical Center in Uganda is the first ambulatory center in this rural area of Uganda to provide safe and affordable care, where patients can get elective procedures and continued support while they recover.
Dr. Joseph Damoi, head surgeon in Uganda.
“Without this hospital, a patient might have to move three hours away, paying quite an amount in transport,” said Daomi.
The partnership is made possible with the help of the cutting-edge “HoloLens” technology, connecting doctors from 7,000 miles away. Doctors can set up I n a room with a computer. For example, Dr. Damoi wears the HaloLens while in the operating room in Uganda. That’s how doctors in each location can receive information and communicate in real-time.
“If I made a mark on a patient virtually here, he would see that virtually on the patient. So, I can almost direct his hand to where to cut, where to grab, where to saw,” said Dr. Peter Taub, chief of plastic surgery at Mount Sinai.
The initiative also incorporates a global fellowship accepting residents and students from the Icahn School of Medicine.
Now the goal is to expand their services. A new solar power building is being constructed next door to the facility in Uganda and will be completed sometime this year.
