As they do every year, Dr. P. Maurer and Prof. T. Gasser were back in Uganda from March 14 to March 29, 2026. The first week was once again dedicated to the Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) in Bwindi, located in the “gorilla rainforest.” It was particularly gratifying to see that the training of local doctors has improved so much that we only needed to provide a little coaching. Our goal of becoming “superfluous” has thus been achieved after about five years.

The need for urological care is very high in this region of southwestern Uganda and will continue to grow as life expectancy rises. We therefore spent the second week at Mutolere Hospital in Kisoro, located in the tri-border area of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Until now, there had been no modern urological care there, particularly no prostate surgeries performed through the urethra (known as TUR-P, “minor prostate surgery,” or “transurethral resection”). We were able to conduct our first urological “camp,” during which local teams were trained in examining patients and selecting them for surgery. We demonstrated what equipment is needed and how to use it. Ultimately, 11 patients underwent surgery as part of “teaching” procedures, all with good results and without complications. It was gratifying and moving to see the doctors’ eagerness to learn and their thirst for knowledge.

One of them aptly summed up the goal of our efforts as follows:

“Give a man a fish—you feed him for a day.
Teach him to fish—you feed him for a lifetime.”

You couldn’t put it any better.

The medical team from Kisoro with the Africomed team

Dr. Balaam from Bwindi shares his experience with Dr. Manzi.

Preparations are underway for the first prostate surgery in Kisoro

The Africomed team at the end of their mission in Bwindi

Urology Camp March 2026