The training offered in Haiti in university hospitals, stops at the level of general surgery. All surgeons who wanted to do a specialty had to continue their studies abroad.

As part of a Medishare project that offers research fellowships in neurosurgery in Haiti, a partnership between the State University of Haiti (UEH), the Ministry of Public Health and the University of Miami has allowed the setting up a training program for neurosurgeons in Haiti.

This pilot program, which has been hosted at Bernard Mevs Hospital for almost a year and is intended for surgeons who have completed their four-year course in general surgery, is the first to offer comprehensive neurosurgery training in the country. The goal is to train at least 10 neurosurgeons, who will be deployed in each of the departments.

Dr. Ariel Henry, one of only 4 neurosurgeons practicing in Haiti [all in Port-au-Prince] and Medical Director of the training program at Bernard Mevs Hospital, explains that there is a strong demand, that it is a road accident or congenital malformation and insists on the need for more neurosurgeons in Haiti.

For the moment Dr. Yudy Lafortune is the only neurosurgeon resident whose training is rotated between hospitals in the United States and Bernard Mevs Hospital. At the end of his specialization, Dr. Yudy Lafortune "will have the chance to operate at the University Hospital of Mirebalais and at the State University Hospital of Haiti (HUEH)," said Dr. Ariel Henry.

PI/ HaitiLibre