#MeetTheTeam: Dr Wondwossen, Urologist and diversion surgeon
We are excited to introduce you to our amazing team of #HealthHeroes in Ethiopia.
These individuals are providing life-changing support for women who have suffered devastating childbirth injuries including fistula, during the pandemic and before.
Urologist at Hamlin’s Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital Dr Wondwossen Woldeab tells us about his work providing specialist surgery to give women with complex fistula their lives back.
Dr Wondwossen Woldeab joined Hamlin in 2020, and despite the global pandemic has already had a significant impact on the lives of many women through providing specialist reconstructive urology surgery at Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
Dr Wondwossen specialises in diversion surgery, which can offer a lifeline for women with severe fistula injuries.
For some women, fistula can result in extensive damage to their bladder or lower urinary tract which sadly is not always possible to cure. For these women, the offer of diversion surgery – to provide them with a urostomy (stoma) bag – can enable them to begin the journey to getting their lives back.
“Because these diversions are the last resort to prevent incontinence, I do them with the utmost care and diligence,”
Dr Wondwossen
Global training and experience
A respected and experienced member of Hamlin’s Clinical Team, Dr Wondwossen has travelled extensively in the process of learning how to best help those most in need. After studying medicine at Jimma University, in southwestern Ethiopia, he specialised in general surgery at the Addis Ababa University and has since worked at Kiimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Tanzania, and Muljibhai Patel Urology Hospital in India where he also completed a fellowship in kidney transplant surgery.
For Dr Wondwossen, his work at Hamlin is rewarding, and sometimes emotional: “I have seen women who were incontinent for 16, 18, 19 years and I couldn’t help but cry to see their joy when they finally became dry and no longer incontinent. These are some of the highlights of my professional journey.”
Transforming lives
Dr Wondwossen’s work is helping to transform the lives of women suffering with fistula and he is determined to see every woman in Ethiopia have access to high quality obstetric care:
“I am very much excited to be part of this team which is working to alleviate the suffering of women from underserved communities…I want to see good obstetric care reaching every woman in Ethiopia”.
Over the year ahead, Dr Wondwossen and his fellow surgeons across Hamlin’s six hospitals will undertake over 1,500 surgeries for women in need. You can support their work by donating today.
