Dr. Steven Kahan, with Core Physicians' Atlantic Urology Associates, recently traveled to Vietnam for a second time on a surgical mission where he educated other doctors, consulted on patient cases and conducted surgical procedures.
Kahan, a Stratham, US resident, spent 10 days working in the Hue Central Hospital in Hue, Vietnam, a city of about 340,000 people in central Vietnam. The mission was coordinated through International Volunteers in Urology, a Salt Lake City-based organization also known as IVU Med, of which Dr. Kahan is a board member. The organization is dedicated to making quality urological care available to people in developing countries.
The hospital where Dr. Kahan spent his time has 2,030 beds and serves as the main referral hospital in the central region. The Hue Central Hospital is also affiliated with Hue Medial College, the primary medical school in the area.
Kahan assisted his Vietnamese hosts in a variety of general urology cases, primarily involving kidney stones and oncology. The team was made up of three attending surgeons and two urology residents. As an experienced urologist, Kahan also served as a mentor to the urology residents on the trip.
In 2008, Dr. Kahan traveled to a 250-bed urology hospital in Saigon, Vietnam, and before that he went on a mission to India with the IVU Med group. He continues to volunteer on the trips because he enjoys not only being able to help the people he meets in foreign hospitals but also experiencing their culture.
"We are really ambassadors of the United States on these trips and I enjoy both being an ambassador for my country while at the same time being able to practice medicine where I can really make a difference," Kahan said. "This is why I went to medical school."
IVU Med was founded in 1995 with the motto "teach one, reach many" and is dedicated to making available surgical care that will improve the lives of children in developing countries. To further their mission, the group provides treatment to thousands of children as well as surgical education to doctors and nurses. They have sent over 175 missions to 20 countries around the world.
The organization aims to introduce new surgical practices and techniques which can be sustained in the countries it visits.
Source: Fosters