Power4Good donates €42,000 for training of doctors in Zambia

Tullamore-based charity, Power4Good, has made a donation of €42,000 as an educational grant for the training of doctors in Zambia to become Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeons.

The training will be facilitated through the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) and has been made possible by the work undertaken over many years in Zambia by recently retired ENT surgeon Kieran O’Driscoll who worked in the Regional Hospital Tullamore.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOH) signed between the Zambian Ministry of Health, Power4Good and the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa allows Power4Good to provide the educational funds for ENT surgical trainees, with one doctor already enrolled on the training scheme.

The main focus of need for Dr. Kieran O'Driscoll's work among the poverty-stricken people of Zambia between 2004 and this year has been the challenge of hearing loss and head and neck cancer.

Former president Mary McAleese launched the Power4Good Zambian ENT Mobile Clinic in 2009 while Irish Aid built their ENT theatre which opened the following year.

All this good work has been made possible by the generosity of the people of Tullamore, with Dr. O'Driscoll citing the Rotary Club Tullamore, the ESB at Portlaoise, the lateGladys Adams and her husband Paddy through their Annual Fashion Charity Shows , Barbara O’Connell for generous pharmacy supplies, to mention just a few of the stalwart supports over the years.

Kieran has spent the past five years working on the collaboration committee between the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) and its counerpart in Africa and has noted the financial difficulties that prevented the doctors in Africa entering ENT surgical training. The low numbers of consultants being trained impacts the work done by the unit.

Molly Buckley President of Power4Good was aware of this need and approached Kieran. The ENT surgical capacity issue in Zambia was a worthy cause which resulted in Power4Good making a recent donation of €42,000.

The fund will train up to five ENT surgeons, which it is hoped will double the ENT surgical consultants in the African region over the next few years.

The Tullamore people have helped thousands of people in Zambia every year with the ENT unit in its capital Lusaka and now through the funds raised in the local Power4Good shops it is hoped that there will be a very positive outcome for patient care in sub-Saharan Africa in the future.