Introducing Laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery to Tanzania

Since 2003 Northumbria has been working with KCMC to develop laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. This surgery is undertaken through small incisions, which allows a camera to show the inside of the body so that the surgeon can operate using special tools. As the incisions are small this means that the wounds heal more quickly, and the patient can return home after a short hospital stay.

Training started in 2004 when consultant surgeon Liam Horgan and theatre trainer Sister Lillian Broatch began to train surgeons and nurses at KCMC. That year, Tanzania’s first laparoscopic procedure was performed.

After another two years of intensive training the team developed a special audio-visual link between KCMC theatres and Hexham General Hospital in UK. This award-winning project enabled surgeons in the UK to guide surgeons at KCMC while they were operating in Tanzania. By this time, laparoscopic operations were being undertaken every week.

KCMC also began to deliver an annual national laparoscopic course, and this continues each year. Surgeons and nurses travel to KCMC from across Tanzania to attend the course. Our ambitions to develop the service continue too and in 2016, KCMC surgeons performed the first day case laparoscopic surgery whereby the patient was able to be discharged home at the end of the operation. Our project teams are also looking at new and innovative ways to perform the surgery including using new, more cost-effective and sustainable, products like mosquito netting for hernia repairs.

More than 1000 laparoscopic procedures have now been successfully completed at KCMC and the project continues to bring significant benefits to the hospital, enabling quicker patient recovery, reducing infection and freeing patient beds.

During the pandemic, Mr Horgan was able to video call surgeons in Tanzania to support with surgery. This is an incredible demonstration of partnership working, across borders and organisations.

“One of my key achievements as a surgeon has been to reach out to my colleagues in Tanzania and help train them to deliver laparoscopic surgery. This has not been an easy task, but it has been immensely rewarding and along the way I have learnt a great deal.”
Liam Horgan