10TV: OhioHealth Neurosurgeon Travels to Kenya to Perform Surgeries

With a total population of 48 million people, Kenya, one of the Africa’s most heavily populated countries, has only 20 neurosurgeons, creating limited access to proper medical care. An OhioHealth neurosurgeon set out to solve this issue in the most direct way: by bringing the medical care to them.

Dr. Victor Awuor, a neurosurgeon at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, will lead the Kisumu Neuroscience Initiative, a mission project dedicated to saving lives, for the second year in a row.

With a team of central Ohio surgeons, international teams, nurses and scrub technicians, Dr. Awuor will travel to Kisumu, the largest city in western Kenya, for two weeks to provide treatment to patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries and tumors, amongst other neurological conditions.

All treatments, medical procedures and surgeries are performed for free.

For Dr. Awuor, the initiative is personal. He was born and raised in Kisumu and has witnessed the growing need for better access to medical care firsthand.

“It's huge really because they don't have access to neurosurgery,” Dr. Awuor said in a recent interview with 10TV reporter Tracy Townsend. “They often have to travel to get neurosurgical care.”

Last May, Dr. Awuor combined efforts with surgeons from the U.S. and Germany for 10 days, in which they performed 23 surgeries. This year, Dr. Awuor can’t wait to get back.

“That same hospital we volunteer at is probably the same hospital my family would go to if they had a neurosurgical issue or any issue,” Dr. Awuor told 10TV. “Having access in that area is very important.”

Grant Medical Center is proud to help donate the medical equipment and tools Dr. Awuor will need to treat patients throughout his time in Kenya.

For more information on neurosurgery at OhioHealth, click here.