Dartmouth Medical School
For Release: March 16, 2005
Contact: DMS Communications (603) 650-1492
Physicians from Kosovo Training at Dartmouth
Lebanon/Hanover, NH - As part of its ongoing program to support health care in Kosovo, Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) is hosting four orthopaedic surgeons from the Pristina University Hospital Center (PUHC) for four weeks to teach them new surgical techniques and procedures. This exchange aims to improve orthopaedics in Kosovo by providing training for doctors practicing in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.
It has been five years since Kosovo began to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure; access to state-of-the art medical training and care remain a priority. The Dartmouth AmeriCares Orthopaedic Program Partnership with PUHC is a two-year educational exchange program supplemented by a targeted and comprehensive humanitarian aid initiative. The goal is to assure that the Kosovar doctors acquire both sufficient medical training in upper and lower extremity and trauma surgery, and the resources to provide comprehensive orthopaedic care to the population of Kosovo.
"I know that in one month it would be impossible to take all the good things from here," said Dr. Arben Grazhdani, chief of orthopaedic surgery in Pristina. "So we are working toward a much longer exchange and expanding it in the upcoming years."
Dr. John Nutting and Dr. Michael Sparks, both assistant professors of orthopaedic surgery, have traveled four times to Kosovo, most recently spending two weeks mentoring surgeons in Kosovo in November, 2004. They are working with the following Kosovar doctors in the orthopaedics department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center:
Dr. Arben Grazhdani is the chief of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Pristina Orthopaedic and Physical Therapy Hospital, PUHC. He is a senior attending surgeon and is the program coordinator for the DMS-AmeriCares-PUHC project.
Dr. Visar Nushi is an orthopaedic surgeon at Pristina Orthopaedic and Physical Therapy Hospital, PUHC, and is focusing on issues related to trauma, especially of the spine, with Dr. Kenneth Koval, professor in orthopaedic surgery at DMS.
Dr. Blerim Qosaj is an orthopaedic surgeon at Prishtina Orthopaedic and Physical Therapy Hospital, PUHC, and is focusing on upper extremity orthopaedics.
Dr. Qerim Kida is a 4th year resident in orthopaedics at Pristina Orthopaedic and Physical Therapy Hospital, PUHC, and is focusing on lower extremity orthopaedics.
More information about the history and evolution of the Kosovo project can be found at: http://geiselmed.dartmouth.edu/dean/initiatives/kosova.shtml
-DMS-