Medical access remains a challenge for many across the globe. In many countries, routine preventative care and simple surgical procedures are out of reach for most citizens due to a shortage of medical professionals and the cost of care. Eager to go beyond research in the fight for global health equity, Dr. Gregory Beilman and Dr. Jeffrey Chipman in the Medical School’s Department of Surgery established a surgical camp in Uganda seven years ago to give U of M surgeons and anesthesiologists a chance to give back.
After taking a three year break during the COVID-19 pandemic, the surgical camp returned to Uganda this spring for two one-week opportunities. Roughly a dozen surgeons, anesthesiologists and residents from the U of M made the trip.
“This gives us an opportunity to give back in a meaningful way,” Dr. Beilman says of the experience. “The patients are in a setting where the opportunity to receive the care that we can provide is not available to them.”
