THE FLYSPEC TEAM
Currently FlySpec has a team of seven Orthopaedic Surgeons and Zambia’s only Plastic Surgeon, Dr Goran Jovic participating in the work. Together they travel with FlySpec to 17 Government and Mission Hospitals in the remote corners of Zambia.
FlySpec also carries prosthetists, sponsored by the Scottish Charity 500 miles to make artificial limbs for amputees. An average of seven to eight devices per month are delivered and successfully fitted to both male and female patients of all ages.
FlySpec also carries prosthetists, sponsored by the Scottish Charity 500 miles to make artificial limbs for amputees. An average of seven to eight devices per month are delivered and successfully fitted to both male and female patients of all ages.
The work of FlySpec has grown enormously since Prof Jellis started it in 1982. In 2012, 87 visits were made to 15 hospitals, 4821 patients were seen and 1,431 operations performed! To do this surgeons traveled 24,647 nautical miles by air, and 30,766kms by road. That's about one and a half times around the World at the equator!
The kind of operations which the surgeons carry out are the treatment of congenital and acquired deformities, often from neglected trauma and bone infections. Dr Jovic manages hare lip and cleft palate, burns contractures (all too common in rural Zambia where open cooking fires and grass thatched homes are the norm) as well as many other congenital deformities.
The kind of operations which the surgeons carry out are the treatment of congenital and acquired deformities, often from neglected trauma and bone infections. Dr Jovic manages hare lip and cleft palate, burns contractures (all too common in rural Zambia where open cooking fires and grass thatched homes are the norm) as well as many other congenital deformities.