Hungarian doctor does incredible work in Nigeria

Dr György Szeifert, chief of neurosurgery, spent a month in Nigeria as a volunteer. He gave an interview to borsonline.hu about his time in Africa.

Why Nigeria?

One of my colleagues, dr. András Csókay found out from an archbishop just how bad conditions are there. There is a Mission Hospital in Onitsha that gets financial support from the Catholic Church. They have internal medicine, surgery and paediatrics but no neurosurgery. At first this caused huge excitement among many doctors, but in the end, it was only the two of us who went there.

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Were the conditions really that bad?

They practice very rudimentary medicine. It is almost impossible to imagine for a European. The only machines the hospital has are the ones that I brought in my luggage. Many doctors do not want to work in these conditions, but I said, that if we do not try something, then all of these patients will die. Click here to read about other Hungarian volunteers in Africa.

What was the biggest problem?

The extreme poverty. Only ten percent of the population has medical insurance. If they cannot pay for a surgery for example, then we cannot perform it. This happens in both state hospitals and private hospitals. But the people are very religious, their faith is enormous, and I think that is what is keeping them alive. Their living conditions are really bad, especially from a European’s point of view, but even so, I have never seen beggars or thieves. Everyone works on the farms, tries to do something productive.

Tell us about how they welcomed you

I got a very warm welcome when I arrived. The hospital director personally came to the airport. All this goodwill, trust, love and encouragement we received warms my heart. On my second day, they greeted me on the streets, children were following me.

What were the living and working conditions?

Our living quarters and the food were good. They were responsible for our room and board, and a pharmaceutical company paid the airfare. They paid for our work with love. The hospital is poor with limited resources. I performed 18 operations, on children and adults, spine and brain surgeries. They still have a lot of children with hydrocephalus. This condition is very rare in Europe for example, because we screen for it and it can be repaired surgically. Of course, they did not have the means to do it.