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Ugandan doctors studying at St. Joseph’s Hospital

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Two doctors studying at St. Joseph’s Hospital are a long way from home. They’re part of an international outreach program at St. Joseph’s Hospital. One of them is from Uganda, who is here for the next 7 months.

Dr. Peace Bagasha is one of two doctors from Uganda spending a year studying at St Joseph’s Hospital.

“For me I’m not able to do nephrology training in Uganda, and I was lucky to come and do it here” says Dr. Bagasha

When she leaves she’ll have a specialty in nephrology, and Uganda is in dire need of kidney doctors. In a country of 34 million people there are only 4 kidney specialists.

“The four kidney specialists, it’s just overwhelming for many of them” says Dr. Bagasha

The international outreach program brings doctors from developing countries here to Hamilton where they can learn how to save lives back home. “Even if we’re able to train in simple things like prevention, that’s good enough for a start and we’ll build our way from there” says Dr. Bagasha

One of the reasons doctors from countries like Uganda choose to come to Hamilton is they actually get the hands on training here, that they can use back home.
“As best as we can, we make sure the training they get here is tailored for the reality when they get home” says Alan Sharpe from St. Josephs Health System. “We do our best not to train them using equipment that is simply out of the question or impossible to find in their country.”

Being away from home is a huge sacrifice for Dr. Bagasha. She left behind her husband and two young children. “The fact that when I go back I know that I’ll be offering a much better service than I would have if I hadn’t come here so that’s really worth it for me.”

And she’ll be able to share what she learned here, with doctors in Uganda.

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