Report of 2018 Honduras Medical/Surgical/Dental Mission

Dear friends, family, and partners,

The last two months have been very busy for us at Chima Medical Missions International (CMMI). One week after the medical mission to Nigeria in association with ANPA, I embarked on a larger one in collaboration with North American Taiwanese Medical Association (NATMA), to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 15-22, 2018.

The team of 71 volunteers consisted of surgeons, internists, family practitioners, pediatricians, optometry, anesthesiologists, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, acupuncturists, dental hygienists, physician assistants, residents, students and non-medical personnel, in association with the Taiwan Embassy in Honduras (Ambassador Ingrid Hsiung), office of the First Lady of Honduras, Mrs. Anna Hernandez, and a multidisciplinary local volunteer team similar to ours.
There were 27 team luggages full of medicines and medical/surgical supplies $30,000+ worth, donated to Honduras people.

Our indefatigable medical/dental team attended to a total of 6,000 patients on different days in Comaguaya, Lapaz, and Danli protected by Honduras security force and policemen.
Our strong surgical team performed 81 operations including hernias, thyroid, colorectal, gallbladder (open and laparoscopic), exploratory laparotomy, common bile duct exploration, etc. No complications.
After all the hard work we had a great tour of Tegucigalpa, the capital of the beautiful country Honduras, and spent some exciting time in the tropical island of Roatan, where I zip lined and snorkeled for the first time in my life!

Some special moments/events:

1. Robust opportunities, networking and interactions with medical colleagues exchanging knowledge and expertise in our specialties. Especially important was working with and teaching the residents and medical/nursing students at San Felipe Hospital, Hospital Escuela Universitario (HEU), and the different medical outreach sites.
In fact some of us in the Academic Team gave PowerPoint presentations and lectures on variety of topics to the medical students at National Autonomous University of Honduras, moderated by the Dean, Dr. Medina.

2. 35 y/o male with gunshot wound to the abdomen s/p exploratory laparotomy, splenectomy, left nephrectomy and chest tube placement. Transferred to HUE. In hospital for Four weeks and Developed pancreatic fistula with large left subphrenic abscess and necrotic tissue extending down to left paracolic gutter and pelvis with cutaneous fistulas in left flank and anterior abdominal wall. Had fevers 102, and sepsis thus we performed lifesaving 31/2 hour surgery: Exploratory Laparotomy, Lysis of Adhesions, drainage of abscess, Pancreatic debridement/necrosectomy, feeding Jejunostomy tube placement and abdominal closure with retention sutures.
Patient did very well to God’s glory!
Attached are some pictures.

Special thanks to our families, Dr. Charles & Mrs. Jennifer Hsu, Kira Huang, First Lady Anna Hernandez, Ambassador Ingrid Hsiung, Dra. Ana Raquel-Morales, Dr. Medina, Dra. Cristina Rodriguez, Drs. Nina Bowman and Erin Lin, Roseann Serafini, Luca Lin, all the volunteers, you, and God.

Blessings,

Cliff Eke, MD, FACS, FICS
Founder/CEO Chima Medical Missions Int’l