- Contributed
Dr. Thesiger (right) operating in Puno, Peru, with Interplast volunteer surgeon Dr. Os Steinwald (far left) in September 2002.
Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
DR. PAUL Thesiger, Jamaican plastic surgeon based in the USA, recently returned to that country following a once-in-a-lifetime tour of South America and Asia, courtesy of the international foundation, Interplast. Founded in 1969, Interplast is said to be the oldest organisation of its kind, providing life-changing surgery for impoverished patients with debilitating birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate, or severe burns, hand injuries, and other crippling malformations or injuries.
Dr. Thesiger, the son of Jamaican Dr. Charles Thesiger, chairman of the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), was selected by Interplast in December 2001 to be the Jerome P. Webster Fellow for 2002-2003.
He officially assumed his new position on July 1, 2002, since which time he has travelled with Interplast volunteers teams to Peru, Bangladesh and other Asian countries. He expects to visit Brazil, India, Nepal, and Vietnam in the remaining months of his fellowship, to perform surgery for children and adults who have little or no access to this type of medial care.
In Peru, says Thesiger, there were a lot of children with cleft lip and palate deformities. "We operated for two weeks. The surgeries were almost uniformly successful. I look forward to going back." The work, he said, was rewarding, and he valued the experience of working with Peruvian doctors and the experience of the Andean culture.
Asia was a complete change of scenery and culture. In Bangladesh formerly East Pakistan the medical team operated mainly on hands, including hand deformities, burns tendon injuries. Here, says Dr. Thesiger, the team was a lot smaller but the experience more educational.
From Bangladesh, a small team went to Singapore and then unto Burma now Mynamar. Mynamar is listed as one of the poorest countries, but it is very organised, very efficient, the Jamaican plastic surgeon observes, "The surgeons are very well trained. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed." In Mynamar, they operated on cleft lips and palate, burn disfigurement. As a group a total of 100 surgeries were done in this country alone.
Paul Thesiger left Jamaica after completing school at Campion College. His decision to do plastic surgery, he said, came out of his love of art and his determination to do medicine. Plastic surgery promised to allow him to use his artistic skills.
"Ever since I was fairly small I used to watch documentaries on plastic surgery, featuring surgeons with artistic ability. At that time I was doing a lot of art."
He left Jamaica at age 18 to study at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. After completing his undergraduate work there in natural sciences, he earned his medical degree at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Dr. Thesiger completed a five-year residency in general surgery at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and is board certified in general surgery.
The plastic surgeon completed a two-year residency at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida, where he was chief resident in the Division of Plastic Surgery.
During his course of study, he devoted much of his time and energy to international healthcare programmes and initiatives. At Columbia, he helped found and served as associate director for International Health Organisation, a student association dedicated to educating medical students about healthcare issues in developing countries. He also spent three months in Recife, Brazil, where he worked in community centres and helped formulate a health education curriculum for homeless children.
During his plastic surgery residency in Miami, many of the children with cleft malformations or other congenital deformities whom Dr. Thesiger treated were from Caribbean and Latin America immigrant
families.
Dr. Thesiger will, after the completion of his fellowship, be based in the Washington DC area with his wife, Dr. Tracey Freeman, where they both plan to establish private practices.
Thesiger is still an artist and is a linguist as well. Fluent in four languages, including Spanish and Portuguese, he was able to communicate easily with many of Interplast's medical colleagues and patients around the world.
Interplast's Webster Fellowship particularly appealed to him because of the opportunities to work with surgeons from developing regions of the world who feel that same kind of determination. "I value the organisation's efforts to help these physicians further develop their skills and expand their capabilities, and to support them in reaching out to people."
In Paul Thesiger's own words, "This fellowship is really a once in a lifetime opportunity." He hopes that other black, Caribbean nationals will be able to participate in the programme in the future.
