On this mission we operated on more children from the Kenyan Coast than we have previously. This is a direct result of the smaller, non-surgical Coastal clinic that we run in Mombasa and Kilifi in October, prior to the surgical mission. This clinic provides a window of access for Coastal children as surgical options are extremely limited on the Coast. Nearly 100 children were seen in the clinic & of these 8 of them were triaged to surgery in Nairobi. Thankfully, not all the children we see on this clinic are in need of surgery & a great many are patients that we have operated on previously, which we really enjoying following up.

Despite all the planning, there is always one problem that we can never overcome; we always see more children in need of urgent surgery than we have operative slots. At MEAK our commitment to these children doesn’t end when the surgical team fly back to London. We then begin working to get these children operations via other charitable routes. Thus far, we have facilitated;

•   4 children to have surgery in London or Aswan in Egypt via UK charity Chain of Hope.
•   2 to have valve replacement surgery at the Salam Centre in North Sudan.
•   Several others have been referred for keyhole procedures (cardiac catherization) by another visiting UKteam to the M.P Shah hospital in May.We are incredibly grateful to our colleagues at the Paediatric Support Group in Mombasa who perform the vital task of helping families with the necessary paperwork & visas to allow them to travel abroad for their surgery or arrange for transportation & accommodation for those who need to travel to Nairobi for cardiac catheterization. This activity enables us to bridge the gap between this mission & the next & provides another chance at an operation for those children who did not receive surgery in Nairobi this time.

Teaching, improving from last visit & great collaboration:

The working relationship between the MEAK team & the M.P. Shah team lead by intensivist Dr Bhupi Reel continues to flourish. Thanks to WhatsApp technology we have been able to be in constant communication through the year to discuss equipment needs & plan the cases for the visit.

At the end of the last mission we asked for suggestions from the team as to what we could improve to make the trip better. We were able to implement many suggestions on this trip, such as

•   Giving the children certificates of bravery for having had cardiac surgery;
•   Presenting the nursing team with certificates to recognise the learning they have done while the team wasoperating, including partaking in the paediatric life support training;
•   Introducing toothbrush kits for the children to enable them to learn how to brush their teeth well & toeducate them how important it is to maintain good oral hygiene now that they have had cardiac surgery

Two patient case studies from MEAK Trustee, Mr Martin Nighy:

Martin attended the mission to assist Mike with managing the team. He kindly wrote for us a trip diary of his experience. It is always very useful for us to have a different perspective on the mission. As medical people, we are often very focussed on the cardiac anatomy and the outcomes, but we often completely miss the personal side of the interaction as we juggle operative slots. Below is an excerpt from Martin’s diary:

Trip Review:

As you have just read the MEAK medical team worked efficiently & tirelessly. Despite the long days and being extremely busy everyone really enjoyed the opportunity to help these children go on to have brighter, healthier lives. They thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the families & working with the M.P Shah medical team again. Again, we focussed on empowering and educating the local team by providing as much teaching & hands-on experience in managing paediatric cardiac patients in every stage of the recovery process. The coordination of the visit by the M.P Shah administrative team was again excellent & the level of enthusiasm & engagement of the M.P Shah medical team was as good as ever. Needless to say, everyone is looking forward to next year!

Next year:

Having had two very successful missions at the M.P Shah hospital we have very much cemented our relationship with the unit as our centre of preference. Plans are already underway to secure dates for the next mission to continue to support their cardiac programme & to help the Kenyan children who desperately need cardiac surgery.

Thank you from MEAK:

Whilst MEAK coordinates the mission, it is very much a team effort from many people to achieve success. Without the sponsorship from March to the Top this mission would simply not happen. We are also incredibly grateful for the expertise of the medical team who volunteered their time to participate.

On behalf of us all at MEAK we would like to thank everyone who contributed to making the mission such a big success, including, but not limited to:

•   March to the Top, whose sponsorship of the mission has completely transformed the lives of another 21 children & their families. We cannot thank you enough & we look forward to continuing our strong working relationship long into the future;
•   The M.P Shah hospital & staff for accommodating us so well;
•   Our ever-faithful supporters, Pollman’s Tours and Safaris, whose provision of our transport in Nairobi forthe duration of the heart trip makes it all possible. Pollman’s have been supporting us for over ten years &truly believe in our charity. We are incredibly thankful for their support;
•   The Mamujee Brothers Foundation for their continued & unwavering support of our Coast patients;
•   Tanuja, Tina & Misha from the Paediatric Support Group in Mombasa. They work tirelessly in co-ordinating& supporting the ever-growing numbers of patients from the Coast. Their patient liaison service provides essential Swahili/English translation allowing us to manage the patients effectively and for families to understand what is going to happen every step of the way. Thank you also for all your hard work in managing these families long after we have travelled back to the UK;
•   MEAK’s Nargis Kasmani, who managed many of the logistics, especially with the equipment and the essential medical supplies.