The Surgicorps Medical Youth Leadership (SMYL) Committee, recognizing both the inspirational value and the financial challenge of overseas medical service trips for students in the medical fields, seeks to assist those students with a genuine interest in third world medicine, through the Surgicorps Student Scholarship which offers $1,000 toward trip costs.
For more information — visit Volunteer.
News
Bhutan 2013
In the words of Bhutan 2013 Team Member, Dr. Alex Rose
Flying into Paro Airport for the first time is an exhilarating experience. The plane banks along the Himalayan Mountains before gliding to a stop on a narrow landing strip in a small valley that seems to appear out of nowhere. It was my first time in Bhutan, as well as about half of the other team members on this Surgicorps International trip. For others, this was their seventh journey to Paro, Bhutan, where dozens of patients already lined the open halls of the hospital, awaiting our arrival. The transition from hotel to hospital was a quick one and screening began almost immediately. With the help of the Tarayana Foundation, an NGO founded by her Majesty the Queen, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk, patients received assistance with their transportation costs from the eastern regions of the country, enabling them access to Surgicorps aid.
That first day of screening we saw dozens of children with cleft lips and cleft palates. The majority of these children were born to parents who had no family history of this congenital deformity. Some babies were quite healthy and thriving, despite this deficit. Others were more obviously impacted in their growth from an inability to feed well. The OR schedule was filling up fast with patients whom we could really help in the days following. [Read more…] about Bhutan 2013