Ealing Surgeon on a Mission to West Africa
Sala Abdalla making her fourth trip on behalf of her charity
Sala Abdalla is a consultant at Ealing Hospital
September 6, 2023
Ealing Hospital surgeon Sala Abdalla is making final preparations for what fourth overseas trip to West Africa.
The founder of charity Operation International UK (OIUK) will head a team of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists helping people in Ghana who can’t afford to pay for surgical procedures, such as hernias, gallbladder and stomach operations.
The previous visit saw 500 people waiting outside a rural hospital for the team’s arrival including one woman who had travelled eight hours and was sleeping in the hospital grounds.
Sala said, “We only had one week of surgeries, so triaged as many patients as possible and carried out close to 150 operations in five days.
“It does make you reflect on how much more efficient we could be with both our resources and time in the NHS. We take so much for granted but when you have less to work with you become far more focused and resourceful.
“I’ve learnt a lot from working overseas. Ideally, we should be doing more minimally invasive 'keyhole' surgery because the recovery time is quicker and a lot of these people need to get back to work as soon as possible.”
Over 150 operations were carried out in five days
Sala, who came to the UK as a ten-year-old refugee from Sudan, says she is aware of the disparity of healthcare where people with money get treated and those who don’t live in pain and face premature death for otherwise treatable conditions.
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