Stronger Together: Humanitarian Mission May 2022
Swisscross team visiting Domiz 1 Camp with The Swedish Development Aid Organization - SWEDO and Barzani Charity Foundation.
If there is one thing we can take away from our recent humanitarian mission in Iraq, it is that we are indeed stronger when we are working together with the rich talented pool of healthcare workers in Erbil and the local communities of NGOs supporting refugees and internally displaced populations.
Our local teams with Swisscross CEO, Dr Ian Furst visited Domiz 1 Camp, the largest refugee camp in the Kurdistan region with The Swedish Development Aid Organization - SWEDO and Barzani Charity Foundation on the first leg of the mission.
Domiz 1 is home to over 28,000 families including 14,000 children under the age of 17 years old.
One of our first patients was a little girl from Domiz 1.
Zainab, who is recovering well, has her post-surgery check-up with Dr Walter Kunzi.
Zainab, is a Syrian refugee who suffered burns across the face and hands after a gas explosion. Swisscross Founder, Dr Enrique Steiger operated on Zainab, repairing the skin with a Z-plasty - a plastic surgery technique used to improve the functional and cosmetic appearance of scars.
Zainab, who is 10 years old was one of many children we have treated. In May children made up 40% of our patients.
Gulstan giving the thumbs-up after a successful surgery on her hand. She now faces months of physiotherapy before a final procedure in November this year.
Like a third of all our patients, Gulstan, was left with severe long-term burns leaving her unable to move her hand. A Syrian refugee living in Essian Refugee Camp, in Dohuk,
Eight-year old Gulstan underwent surgery for skin grafts. Swisscross chief surgeon Dr Walter Kunzi and local plastics surgeon Dr Mustafa Subhe inserted pins into her hand to hold her fingers in place. She now has a long road to recovery with physiotherapy before her final surgery later this year at the Centre of Excellence for Complex Care in Erbil.
In total, during the May humanitarian mission, the Swisscross team screened 85 patients and performed 30 surgeries in 12 days, including orthopedic, burn and facial surgeries.
Women and children made up the majority of the patients we treated, most of whom were also refugees or internally displaced.
Swisscross Founder, Dr Enrique Steiger visited the public hospital in Sulaymaniyah with our colleagues Dr Alla Shukur and Professor Deiary Kader (pictured).
The humanitarian mission also gave us the opportunity to meet with SEED Foundation, an all-women led NGO, and the emergency public hospital in Sulaymaniyah.
Dr Enrique Steiger and Swisscross colleagues, Erbil plastic surgeon, Dr Alla Shukur and Orthopedic surgeon, Professor Deiary Kader took a tour of the hospital in Sulaymaniyah to discuss ways in which to support patients in need of complex care surgery.
Along with providing life-changing surgeries, this humanitarian mission was also about building relationships and collaborating with communities on the ground to be able to provide reconstructive surgeries to some of the most vulnerable communities affected by the circumstances of war and conflict.
