One of the days of our trip, we spent shadowing a urologic surgeon at a hospital in Essaouira. He gave us a tour of the operating floor, spoke to us about the benefits and challenges of the facility, and shared some inspiring insight. Dr. Benjelloune, of Hospital Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah Hospital, showed us around, mentioning that the hospital was newly renovated and that the operating rooms are all brand new as of about one year ago. The faculty and staff are still adjusting to the new layout and building and shared with us that they do not have enough staff to use it as originally built. We saw their brand new sterilization center, equipped with all the necessary equipment to allow complete sterilization of surgical instruments and tools. Something, which he said they did not have until about 6 months ago. The hospital received funding to help equip them with necessities such as this equipment and surgical instruments and pharmaceutical supplies. We then spent the next few hours shadowing him in his scheduled surgeries for the day which included a Left Total Nephrectomy, a Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate, and a Ureteral Stricture Repair. He shared with us that he performs multiple "pro-bono" surgeries every week because patients here in Morocco have a hard time affording the life-saving care. The head operating nurse and one of the anesthesiologists shared with us that the biggest problem the hospital faces has nothing to do with having enough medicine, beds, equipment, or room, but lack of qualified staff. The operating room nurse serves in multiple roles, working to order and organize the pharmacy and surgical supplies, checking patients in and preparing them pre-operatively, assisting in surgery, assisting in post-operative care, and assisting and overseeing the sterilization and cleaning of the operating rooms and their contents. That is a lot of roles for one person to play! He told us that they don't have enough money or resources to hire outside parties to do some of those jobs, so although they have a big, beautiful new building, it can't be used to it's ability. Dr. Benjelloune and his staff's knowledge, hard work, and generosity were truly inspiring and this experience definitely opened my eyes to some of the challenges Moroccans face in terms of health care access and quality.
Providers such as Dr. Benjelloune, who provide such generosity and his nurses who work so hard to fill the shoes of many are the reason so many people in Morocco can live such long healthy lives, despite being faced with difficult illnesses.
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AuthorMy name is Erika Bolduc. I am a second year Master of Physician Assistant Studies student at MCPHS University in Boston, MA. Archives
January 2020
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