Dieudonné A. Lemfuka is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and currently lives and works in Monrovia, Liberia. Read on to find out more about Dieudonné, his background and experiences, what lead him to the MGSC, and more!
What has inspired you to become a surgeon? Please share some of your experiences serving at your current hospital in Liberia. What are some of the urgent needs in your area?
Since medical school, surgery has always been my field of passion. There is a huge need across Africa including, my country of origin, D.R.Congo and my country of residency, Liberia, in terms of access to surgical care, including well trained and qualified medical professionals that will provide standard, high quality of care to patients. I always wanted to be among those who seek to give such care to patients. I have a passion for improving the quality of surgical care in limited/low resource settings by promoting, and delivering equitable, standard, high quality care to those in the most need. I am also involved in and passionate about training the next generation of African physicians that would be competent and able to deliver standard quality of care to those most in need.
I am currently serving as a General Surgeon, surgical education coordinator and missionary through Soudan Interior Mission (SIM) at ELWA Hospital, a faith based hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. This hospital provides affordable and accessible timely quality of care to those in most need. We operate on about 1200 cases per year with a wide range in scope and types of surgery from general, pediatric, urology, orthopaedic, non complex neurosurgical and other various traumatic cases. This gives us a broad view and expertise that is appropriate for general surgery in low resource settings. This means we do almost everything in our context.
Some of our most urgent needs are: the development and establishment of a critical care unit to improve our patients’ care and outcomes; training in the approach and management of trauma; increased exposure and development of research in a resource limited settings (i.e. ways to document and report data); and mentorship to help develop sustainable and long term medical care that benefits patients.
What are some of your hobbies & interests? What do you love to do in your spare time?
I love swimming, reading, travelling and hiking.
What advice would you give to prospective students?
My advice is be courageous and follow your dreams, and put in the effort and engagement to pursue your goals. Taking the Master of Global Surgical Care program will help prospective students, particularly those from LMICs, be skilled to address the surgical burden needs and advocate for equity in surgical care. The program helps develop more understanding of both the cultural context and evidence based surgical practices that will help in patient care. Also the program supports students to think about the cost of resources and how that can affect the patient. It helps us to see how surgeons or surgical providers can help even patients with limited resources by using whatever we have available. Taking this program is eye opening and good exposure to the very different world of surgery in LMICs vs HICs.
Is there any work/document/article that you are currently working on that you’d like to promote? Our community would love to find out what our students are currently working on. How can our community learn more about you? (Website, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc)
I am currently involved in teaching and training junior doctors rotating in surgery. To have an idea of what I do as a general surgeon in a resource limited setting you can watch this video of my webinar with Samaritan Purse International Health Forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphC9IORfHQ
What lead you to take the Master of Global Surgical Care and how do you think it will help you in your future career?
As a general surgeon, I work in a low resource setting serving people in the most need of surgical care. I treat most of the surgical pathologies that present at a typical community hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa, including all sub-specialties. Most of our patients are not able to afford standard surgical care and in most instances there is lack of qualified personnel, infrastructure and resources to provide such care. Working in such an environment and in a faith based hospital, I have been involved in volunteering with many international outreach programs and campaigns with different organizations that made an impact on the communities, such as orthopaedic, cleft lip and palate repair, ENT or eye surgery.
All these volunteer experiences along with my passion for surgery and the hospital vision statement prompted my enthusiasm for global surgery. When I found out about the Master of Global Surgical Care program at UBC, I was so excited to apply for it. I feel that this program will be beneficial for me as I embark in the field of global surgery. I view the program to be a way for developing knowledge and skills to advocate for and promote equity in surgical care in LMICs or resource limited settings.
Surgical disease in the developing world (low and middle-income countries) or rural or remote areas of high income countries remains an unmet need, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Effectiveness of surgical treatment disproportionately affects individuals at the lower end of the economic spectrum. In our setting here, there is huge unmet need in both urban and rural areas. with the former being in most need. Liberia as a low and middle-income African country is not an exception to the burden of surgical disease.
The Master in Global Surgical Care will help me gain more knowledge and skills to address the huge unmet need for surgical care global interventions, and development of policies and plans for long-term and sustainable development programs for accessible surgical care. The program will help as well in terms of initiating in-country or local training to improve the surgical evidence-based practices of developing a surgical care program and to advocate for patient equity and more surgical research in resource limited settings.