| Description |
This paper is based largely on observations and experiences in Afghanistan during the two occasions on which I accompanied my husband1 on a tour as visiting surgeon with the Care-Medico program in Kabul, Afghanistan. The first visit was in March, 1971, the second in November, 1974. During these visits, my husband taught basic principles of orthopedic surgery to Afghan physicians who are being trained in surgery at the Avicenna Hospital in Kabul. The part of the visiting surgeon in the Medico Training Program at this hospital involves lectures, slide presentations, clinical demonstrations and surgery. My time was occupied with clerical and secretarial assistance in the nursing office of the hospital, where my work included typing letters from Medico physicians to various government officials and physicians at other hospitals. I was present during the weekly nursing conferences and traveled with my husband and another Medico physician on visits to civil hospitals in Ghazni and Kandahar. The purpose of these visits was to observe the type of work being done, and the facilities available to the surgeons who had been trained at Avicenna, in order to lAndrew C. Ruoff, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Utah College of Medicine. 2 evaluate how well the training received prepares them for their future activities. Based on observations of the program at Avicenna Hospital, the visit to the provincial hospitals, conversations with many people involved in development programs in Afghanistan (medical and otherwise), personal acquaintance with problems 2 of medical care, and study of the literature on the history, culture and people of Afghanistan, this study will describe the medical system and the training of physicians in Afghanistan as it was observed and suggest ways in which the Medico Training Program could be improved and ways in which Medico itself may exert a more positive influence toward improved medical care in the country. |
