SA surgeons conduct 68 operations in quake-hit Nepal

Kathmandu - South African surgeons have conducted 68 life-saving operations since they touched down in earthquake-struck Nepal last week. 

The quake has claimed over 7 200 lives and pushed the country into a healthcare crisis, with the already strained hospital system overwhelmed. 

The specialised medical team, funded by humanitarian aid mission Gift of the Givers, has been deployed to hospitals across the capital Kathmandu as the injured from outlying areas, who until now had been cut-off by landslides, flood into medical facilities. 

Gift of the Givers co-ordinator Dr Qasim Bhorat said that surgeons had worked with medical teams from around the world, in operations completely funded by the foundation. 

“Our Primary Healthcare team has been out to the villages and touched 435 lives as well,” he said.  

The foundation, funded by donations, had also established feeding schemes at the four resident hospitals, ensuring the destitute patients and their families get two meals a day.