We began our day by returning to Mombasa Coast Provincial General Hospital to interview the COSECSA surgical residents there. We were able to interview 7 of the 15 residents at the hospital, the remaining few were busy studying for their upcoming exams. We decided to split up and interview several people individually.
I interviewed Dr. Noormohamed Arshad and Dr. Hahan Ahmad Mkuche, two third year residents who wanted to pursue general surgery. Dr. Arshad was particularly interested in laparoscopic surgery, estimating having spent almost 50 hours doing laparoscopic training on his own free time. Both came from neighboring counties near Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale, and both came to Coast General because of its proximity to where they lived, and because of the conveniences the COSECSA program offered. Both are also interested in returning to their home counties after finishing residency and a fellowship, because they both see the need for more surgeons in more rural parts of the country, and they want to stay and help. Dr. Arshad is even interested in specializing in minimally invasive surgery, and he hopes to be able to practice it back home. It was a very nice conversation, and I could hear the enthusiasm from both residents, they seemed incredibly driven and passionate about their studies, and were excited to help their local communities in any way that they could.
We bid the residents farewell, and then headed to our next destination for the day: Technical University Mombasa. TUM was founded in 1948 as an institute for Muslim education, and has since grown into a very proficient technical university, with a sister school in Nairobi (Technical University of Kenya). The school has numerous disciplines for students to pursue, including biomedical engineering (often called medical engineering here), and right now they are trying to expand by creating a medical school.
The campus was very nice, with a very distinct Arabic architectural style, and nice open areas where many students were sitting around talking and studying, it feels like it would be very nice to study here. We came to talk to some of the senior staff out of a referral from Dr. Marleen Temmerman, whom we met in our first week in Kenya at Aga Khan hospital. We talked a lot about biomedical engineering, similarities with Johns Hopkins, and TUM's future plans for its medical school. It was a very nice talk, and we all were able to see the potential for a strong connection between TUM and our team, possibly all of JHU, it seems like a good opportunity for a collaboration that can benefit all of us.
After finishing at TUM, we returned to our hotel to take one final afternoon to enjoy the pool and the beach before we would be leaving the next day. Ignacio and I even played water polo with the hotel staff, it was very fun! Soon after, we ate dinner, caught up on work, and then went to bed. Alas, tomorrow will be our final day in Mombasa, as we will be taking a flight back to Nairobi tomorrow night.