Partners in Profile: Dr. Guilavogui Seydouba, MSF trainer, Haiti

Partners in Profile: Dr. Guilavogui Seydouba, MSF trainer, Haiti

By David West, PIH Communications Specialist

	Dr. Guilavogui Seydouba teaching the certification course for nurse anesthetists.

Sitting in a class room in Cange, high in the central plateau of Haiti, six Haitian women listen as Dr. Guilavogui Seydouba reviews the elements necessary for good oxygen transfer in the human cardiovascular system. The women have traveled from across Haiti, leaving behind family and loved ones to participate in this challenging 18-month course, which will culminate in their certification as trained nurse anesthetists.

Dr. Gui (as he is known) has also left behind family and loved ones—his wife and five children, including a two-month-old child whom he has never met—to teach the course. A surgeon from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, he has traveled halfway around the world to teach nurse anesthetists in Haiti. Why?  Because his biography bears a strong resemblance to the patients he treats in rural Cange.

The child of a poor family in the Nzerekore region of Southern Guinea, Dr. Gui grew up surrounded by poverty. It left a lasting impression on him. He completed his medical degree in Guinea, and with the help of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), he spent a year attending the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium to receive training for anesthesiology. The only stipulation: He must commit to working for five years in rural Guinea. “For me, this was not a problem at all,” said Dr. Gui.  “The rural poor are the people for whom I have wanted to work.”  True to his word, Dr. Gui has dedicated his life to treating the rural poor—whether in Guinea or in Haiti. 

In Cange, his current mission is doing whatever it takes to ensure that his pupils complete the training course, which is sponsored by a partnership between MSF, the Haitian Ministry of Health, and Zamni Lasante (ZL, the Haitian sister organization of Partners In Health). This training is a crucial component of ZL’s efforts to roll out accessible surgical care across Haiti’s impoverished Central Plateau and Artibonite regions (read a memorial to Dr. Josue Augustin, the the driving force behind this rollout). As new surgical facilities come online, nurse anesthetists are especially needed for emergency c-sections, a basic surgery that saves lives every day and has the potential to save thousands more.

The trainees’ schedule is demanding. Their day starts promptly at 7:00am with a 90 minute class on theory. Then they report to the surgical ward where Dr. Gui reviews all of the surgery cases scheduled for the day, and assigns cases. Accompanied by a nurse anesthetist mentor, each trainee conducts a full review of the patients’ conditions and planned surgical procedures, makes recommendations regarding the anesthesia for their patients, and helps prep the operating rooms. Like all of the surgical staff at Cange, the students don’t head home for the evening until all surgical cases for the day have been seen, whether that is 6:00pm or after midnight. After finishing their workday, the students use the time remaining to study for their weekly written exams.

Dr. Gui strives to match their dedication with his own—spending his scant personal time to tutor an individual student or arranging for a more intensive mentorship for another. His approach is to build solidarity among his students. “I let them know that we are in this together, and that none of us will advance until all of us understand the material and training.” 

Finding effective allies has long been a building block of the Partners In Health approach. Dr. Gui and this important partnership between Partners In Health, MSF, and the Haitian Ministry of Health offer a compelling example of what can be achieved when committed partners come together.

[posted September 2009]