When surgery can only be accessed at overcrowded urban hospitals, wait times and travel logistics can become a major barrier to receiving timely care, especially for suburban and rural populations. As part of our mission to increase access to safe, affordable surgery, we are working with our partners in Bolivia to expand surgical services to municipal and other decentralized public hospitals throughout the country, bringing care closer to home. Through mobile surgery campaigns, hundreds of patients are undergoing life-changing general surgery procedures each year, significantly improving their health and quality of life.

So far in 2024, we have provided over 100 surgeries through eight of these mobile surgery campaigns. Another six campaigns are scheduled for the remainder of the year. In today’s blog we’ll explain what a mobile surgical campaign entails and the impact it has on patients needing care.

The first mobile surgery campaign of 2024 was held over three days in March in the town of **Vinto**. Campaigns also provide opportunities to assess and prepare sites for Solidarity Bridge mission trips. The Vinto Hospital will host our fall 2024 Multi-Specialty Mission Trip.

Our mobile surgery campaigns are completely Bolivian-led. On each campaign, a small team of Puente de Solidaridad (PdS) staff and Bolivian doctors are hosted by a public hospital in an underserved community to provide surgeries for low-income patients. The most common surgeries provided during campaigns are laparoscopic hernia repairs and gallbladder extractions. These campaigns are similar to mission trips, spanning 3-4 days of intensive work, and preceded by weeks of planning.

PdS social workers visit patient homes to verify socio-economic need and to make sure the home has suitable conditions for the patient’s post-op recovery. If a home is difficult to access or if the patient sleeps on the floor, for example, the social worker may recommend the patient remain a few extra nights recovering in the hospital.

The visiting campaign teams are headed by highly experienced Bolivian surgeons. Most of the doctors who lead these campaigns were either mentored in earlier years by US surgeons, or are the mentees of such Bolivian specialists. Depending on the medical staff available at the host site, the visiting team may also include an experienced anesthesiologist. Just like US missioners, these Bolivian doctors sacrifice time in their home practices to bring needed care and training to places where patients have less access.

For its part, Puente de Solidaridad staffs the campaigns with a medical supplies coordinator who selects, packs, and manages the equipment and supplies needed for the surgeries; a social worker who ensures that care is prioritized for patients with the greatest needs and maintains patient records; a chaplain to provide spiritual support for the families and the medical team, and a driver who assists with logistics.

Hosting a campaign is a heavy undertaking for the entire hospital. In this image, the laundry crew in the municipal hospital of **Ivirgarzama** tackles the pile of OR linens accumulated after a long day of back-to-back surgeries. Surgical care is especially difficult to access for residents of the rainforests surrounding Ivirgarzama, so the hospital requests two campaigns per year.

Reaching patients who otherwise have limited access to care is the primary goal of these campaigns. Radio and TV announcements are often used to encourage patients who may need surgery to come to the host hospital to be assessed. But most campaign patients are already known by the doctors in the community. When these doctors learn of one of our campaigns, they reach out to their patients individually to share the good news that their long-needed surgery will now be available close to home.

Our mobile surgery campaigns are achieving a palpable impact on individual and community levels. They support the wider public health system, expanding care options and decreasing the burden on third-tier hospitals in city centers. And they bring needed care closer to home for patients suffering common but debilitating conditions. Equally important, the visiting doctors provide training for the medical staff at the decentralized hospitals, who are often young doctors completing their required social service terms and eager for more experience and training. The campaign teams also leave supplies and equipment to continue to support the host sites after they are gone.

Thank you for helping us support these Bolivian campaigns bringing high-quality surgery to those who need it.

Mobile Surgery Campaigns Bring Care Close to Home