{"id":90760,"date":"2026-05-27T14:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=90760"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:04:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:04:47","slug":"improving-surgical-access-in-developing-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/improving-surgical-access-in-developing-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving global surgery from missions to partnerships is the key to expanding care"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"During
During a March 2026 trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, Dr. Taylor Allenby, a surgical resident from UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, performs microsurgery as surgical resident Dr. Ariel Johnson, right, assists alongside a Vietnamese surgeon. Dr. Phuong Nguyen and his team from Colorado traveled to Vietnam this year to teach advanced surgical techniques to local surgeons. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Greyson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trips by surgeons and other medical experts to low-income and developing countries are nothing new, and they\u2019ve helped countless patients. But there\u2019s a growing recognition that these trips do little to improve care once the visitors pack up and leave.<\/p>\n

Dr. Phuong Nguyen<\/a>, a plastic surgeon at the UCHealth Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic \u2013 Anschutz Outpatient Pavillion<\/a>, and the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine<\/a>\u2019s associate vice chair of Global Surgery<\/a>, is working to change that, starting in Vietnam. In March, he led a trip to Hanoi. Nguyen and his team spent a week not only performing surgeries but also teaching advanced surgical techniques to local surgeons, who can then help patients after the Western surgical experts are gone.<\/p>\n

Nguyen prefers not to use the term \u201cmedical mission.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost think of \u2018medical mission\u2019 as a dirty word, because it conjures this concept of, kind of, neocolonialism, where the Global North has to help the Global South that can\u2019t help themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A group of surgeons reviews a pediatric craniofacial case involving a child with a misshapen skull during a session at Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi. Dr. Phuong Nguyen and his team from Colorado recently traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam to teach advanced surgical techniques to local surgeons. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Greyson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Global surgery as ‘neglected stepchild’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nguyen, a California native of Vietnamese heritage and a 20-year veteran of surgical trips to 15 countries, believes that lifting surgery from \u201cneglected stepchild of global health\u201d status, as global-health pioneer Paul Farmer once characterized it<\/a>, requires ongoing collaboration with local surgeons and a focus on educating them on Western surgical techniques. In effect, teaching them to fish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a dire need for more surgeries than traditional medical missions could ever fill. A landmark 2015 report<\/a> by The Lancet Commission noted 5 billion people who lacked access to safe, affordable, surgical and anesthesia care, and that 143 million people needed but couldn\u2019t get surgery. This state of affairs has scarcely improved, and the global population is up 11% since then.<\/p>\n

Improving surgical access in Vietnam and other developing countries has become Nguyen\u2019s mission in life. He cofounded Nuoy Reconstructive International<\/a> in 2020, and the nonprofit has built relationships with nine hospitals in three cities in Vietnam: Hanoi, Hui, and Ho Chi Minh City.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Katie Egan, an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery, performs a free-flap microsurgery in a Hanoi hospital in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Greyson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Building partnerships while doing surgeries<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe model is to go to hospitals on repeat, the same places with the same people over time, to work together and build relationships to really build sustainable capacity,\u201d Nguyen said. Importantly, Vietnamese partners are the doctors of record for the patients the visitors team led surgeries on, he added.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mark Greyson, who specializes in hand surgery at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>, was among the Colorado doctors who traveled to Vietnam in March. (Read about new thumb arthritis surgeries<\/a> that Greyson and fellow doctors are doing, and a patient who received the new surgery.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

He did a dozen surgeries himself, he says, primarily congenital (i.e., you\u2019re born with it) injuries to the hand and lower extremities. The contrast with his experience on a traditional medical mission to Tanzania, which he did a few years back, was stark. In Tanzania, there was little expertise and few resources, he said. Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi, where the team worked, still lacked certain resources, so the University of Colorado team brought its own specialized instruments for microsurgery<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado sugeons posed for a photo during their March Vietnam trip. From left, Thalia Le, plastic surgery research fellow; Dr. Ton Doan, surgical resident and global surgery fellow; senior surgical residents Dr. Taylor Allenby and Dr. Ariel Johnson; Dr. Phuong Nguyen; and Dr. Mark Greyson. Not pictured: Dr. Katie Egan. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Greyson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBut a lot of the Vietnamese surgeons were quite talented. Many of them had done fellowships at prestigious institutions in Southeast Asia and some even in the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Education that goes both ways<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The education extended to members of the Colorado team. Nguyen has worked with the organization that accredits U.S. medical residents to ensure that surgical residents \u2014 doctors who are working toward board certification in surgery \u2014 get credit for procedures they perform overseas. So, in addition to Nguyen, Greyson and\u00a0Dr. Katie Egan<\/a>, an assistant professor<\/a> of plastic and reconstructive surgery, surgical residents Dr. Taylor Allenby, Dr. Ariel Johnson, and Dr. Ton Doan worked with Vietnamese patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an education standpoint, it just gives you such a unique perspective culturally, but also how to work with resource limitations,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cThese cases count for their graduation, so it becomes an integral part of their residency, and I think a bit separator from other programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Taylor Allenby, a Colorado surgical resident, performs microsurgery as fellow resident Dr. Ariel Johnson assists with a Vietnamese colleague. The residents were part of an effort to expand surgical access by training local surgeons, while also gaining experience through global exchange. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Greyson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greyson said he also learned from the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this was a great cultural exchange, educating local surgeons, learning about the different pathophysiology they see in Vietnam, working with talented people, and hopefully bringing some of them out to the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s in the works, Nguyen said. Viet Duc University Hospital\u2019s head of plastic surgery has been granted status as a University of Colorado adjunct professor, enabling, among other things, a deeper dive into the nuances of organ transplant and access to PubMed<\/a>, a valuable resource that\u2019s not a given in many developing countries. Also, doctors at Hong Ngoc Hospital in Hanoi hope to explore osseointegration<\/a>, a unique strength among University of Colorado surgeons.<\/p>\n

The Colorado team hopes to continue to visit Vietnam to perform surgeries, too. Just don\u2019t call them \u201cmissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a partnership, not a mission, per se, and it\u2019s a partnership that evolves over time as the needs of your partners evolve,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trips by surgeons and other medical experts to low-income and developing countries are nothing new, and they\u2019ve helped countless patients. But there\u2019s a growing recognition that these trips do little to improve care once the visitors pack up and leave. Dr. Phuong Nguyen, a plastic surgeon at the UCHealth Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":90790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[4750,277,478,702],"class_list":["post-90760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","category-news","tag-access-to-care","tag-metro-denver","tag-plastic-reconstructive-surgery","tag-surgical-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nImproving surgical access in developing countries - 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