![\"SCH_Surgery130\"](\"https:\/\/www.soddo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SCH_Surgery130.jpg\")
<\/p>\nImagine a missionary doctor sitting under a tree in Africa, seeing patients as they line up from far and near.\u00a0 She sees 100 patients a day or more.\u00a0 In a year, perhaps 3000.\u00a0 In ten years, 30,000.\u00a0 Not a bad contribution to the problem of suffering in her country.\u00a0 But imagine how burned-out, how completely exhausted she is after this work.\u00a0 And when she finally gives up, the work is finished.\u00a0 Many thousands of patients were treated, and many lives saved even.\u00a0 But the work is not enduring.\u00a0 It is not sustainable.<\/p>\n
Now, imagine that same doctor pouring her life into doctors-in-training in that country.\u00a0 Year after year, spending intentional time teaching 10-15 resident physicians.\u00a0 In ten years\u2019 time, perhaps 20 or 30 are trained.\u00a0 Each of those go on to treat thousands of patients in their careers.\u00a0 Some of them are retained as teaching physicians, and they in turn pour into others.\u00a0 This is multiplication.\u00a0 This is empowerment.\u00a0 The impact of that one person is perhaps 50-fold when compared to the lone worker at the beginning of our story.<\/p>\n
This is what we do at Soddo Christian Hospital through PAACS.<\/p>\n
The Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons was founded in 1996 with one residency program in the jungles of Gabon.\u00a0 Since then, it has\u00a0grown to twelve\u00a0programs in ten\u00a0countries.\u00a0 We are one of those programs.\u00a0 Why is it so important to train African surgeons?<\/p>\n
Right now, 56\u00a0million people in sub-Sahara Africa are in need of surgery.\u00a0 In most\u00a0of the continent, there is one surgeon for every 250,000 population.\u00a0 In Ethiopia, there are only a 300\u00a0surgeons for a country with almost 90 million inhabitants. \u00a0(If WHO guidelines were met, we would have 4,150!) \u00a0PAACS has the goal to train 100 surgeons by 2020.\u00a0 Thirty-six have been trained thus far, and God-willing, the goal will be met by 2019.<\/p>\n
Because the program is fully accredited, our graduates are eligible to be members of the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa.\u00a0 And in turn, are fully licensed by the country of Ethiopia as surgeons. \u00a0And the faculty actively disciple the residents during their training – teaching them not just excellent surgical practice, but equipping them with the spiritual tools to use medicine to bring people to Christ.<\/p>\n
We praise God for this kind of empowerment and training.\u00a0 Of Africans.\u00a0 For Africa.<\/p>\n
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Imagine a missionary doctor sitting under a tree in Africa, seeing patients as they line up from far and near.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,80,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-missionary-medicine","category-discipleship","category-training"],"yoast_head":"\n