History
In 2015 Mohamed Abdelrahman, a Sudanese plastic surgeon, spoke to the BSSH overseas committee chair, Steve Hodgson, about the potential for collaboration. Several BSSH visits to lay the ground with different stakeholders in the Sudan followed with orthopaedic and plastic surgeons visiting Khartoum. In December 2016, Wee Lam, the BFIRST president at the time, went, with David Bell and hand therapist Janet Hunter, to deliver a two day symposium on functional hand reconstruction.
The first joint visit between BSSH-BFIRST was to the Sudan in 2017.
They were also co-opted at that time to be the external examiners for the Sudanese Medical Specialisation examination board, examining Sudanese Plastic surgeons at the end of their training for their Plastic Surgery MD exam.
This set the pattern for our links with Sudan. In the week before the Sudanese orthopaedic national meeting, BFIRST and BSSH would support a preconference meeting with training workshops for the trainees and this would be facilitated by Mohamed Abdelrahman.
These frequent visits and close work between Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons lead to formulation of the Sudanese Society of the Surgery of the Hand.
In Early 2016, Andrew Hart and Rodrick Dunn – plastic surgeons- went to the Sudanese Plastic Surgery Society Conference, and did some complex surgeries after the conference.
In 2017, David Bell and Tony Barabbas (Plastic Surgeons) taught tendon repair and reconstruction – using cadaveric models- aided by Stephen Hodgson, Stephen Lipscombe and Matt Nixon (orthopaedic surgeons). David and Tony were external examiners for the Plastic surgery examination while the orthopaedic surgeons delivered a wrist trauma symposium.
In 2018, David Bell (plastic surgeon) led a flap course aided by Orthopaedic surgeons Matt Nixon, Niloy Roy and Pete Kenyon. They then delivered an elbow trauma program while David Bell undertook examiner duties.
Sadly, 2019 was marked by civil unrest in Sudan resulting in the next trip being delayed until February 2020. David Bell and Nik Jagodzinski, along with therapists Sarah Griffiths and Janet Hunter, taught hand fracture management, based around splinting and wiring using chicken bones as a model. This was one of the last courses to be run prior to the pandemic.
Present
The project is on pause for physical meetings but that doesn’t mean things have been lying fallow. The BFIRST and BSSH webinars have been well attended, and there are imminent plans for regular monthly teaching sessions with the Whiston Trainees once the technology issues have been overcome.
Future
We hope to return to Khartoum soon and the combined model with BSSH with Matt Nixon as BSSH project lead works well.
We hope to extend the teaching and training to include post burn contracture reconstruction, oncological reconstruction, cleft lip and palate reconstruction and to work more on training standards.
David Bell