Photo taken by Dr Jesudason of grateful parents
Two members of staff, on secondment at a hospital in Los Angeles, were selected for a very special humanitarian trip.
Based at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) Dr Edwin Jesudason, Reader and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon in Reproductive and Developmental Medicine and Valeria Solari, Research Fellow in Structural and Chemical Biology were picked to join a team to visit Mongolia.
Six times the area of the UK with only three million people, health care is centralised in Ulan Bator surrounded by distant hospitals and basic primary care stations. Surgery for children is challenging because of problems transporting sick children, as well as limited resources and training.
The Liverpool-CHLA team comprised specialists in infectious disease, paediatrics, urology, pharmacology, intensive care and public health. Edwin and Valeria performed and taught surgeries ranging from tumour excision and lung lobectomy to correction of anorectal malformation.
Edwin said: “We were overwhelmed by gifts from parents and met with the World Health Organisation to compile a report with recommendations for the hospital.”