Returned NRIs to Host American Medical Team For Performing 600 Free Surgeries in Gujarat

Two returned Non-Resident Indians will host a medical mission from Honolulu, Hawaii, in Gujarat in January. The 17-member team will perform 600 free surgeries at Borsad in the state.

Aloha Medical Mission will set up camp at the hospital owned by Dr. Paresh Patel and his wife Dr. Chandralekha Patel, who returned to India after living for over three decades abroad, the Times of India reported. Paresh, a general surgeon, and Chandralekha, an oncologist, provide free consultation at their 100-bed Shraddha Hospital. After his education in India, Paresh Patel went to East Africa and later to the United States, where he lived for 35 years.

The medical team, consisting of seven surgeons, three dentists, five anesthesiologists, one plastic surgeon and one ENT surgeon, will be staying at Borsad from Jan. 4 to Jan. 20. The camp will cater to rural residents of central Gujarat’s Charotar region, where for the first time U.S.-based doctors will be setting up the facility.

“The Aloha Medical Mission wanted to conduct a camp in India,” Paresh Patel, 75, told the publication. “Before their arrival, we had already organized diagnostic camps in the region to identify the patients who are in need. The team from the United States will perform gastro-intestinal surgery, treat congenital deformities and also provide free mechanical prosthesis to patients who have amputation of hands.”

The plastic surgeons on the team will treat patients with cleft lip & palates, burn contractures, and hand injuries, among other issues, while ENT surgeons will see cases of tonsillectomies and head & neck procedures. Dentists will perform restorative dentistry if the equipment and facilities permit it, according to the Aloha Medical Mission website.

The mission provides free healthcare to underserved people in the Pacific, Asia, and Hawaii. It was founded in 1983 by Drs. Ramon Sy and Ernesto Espaldon under its parent organization, the Philippine Medical Association.

It has had missions in 16 countries, including Bangladesh, Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Honduras, Guatemala, Nepal, Burma. This will be their first India mission. They have performed 21,500 surgeries and treated 272,000 patients so far.