Over the last several years, I've established a relationship with the orphanages in this community.  I continue to to visit them to determine what they need to maintain their centers and feed the children.  During this trip I provided water heaters for the showers, a water filtration system, a new washing machine, and supplies and food for the younger children.

In March of 2013, we started a surgical symposium at the Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi.  I was accompanied by Dr. Seth Cohen and Dr. Elizabeth Kavalar.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Volunteer orphanage in Nha Trang for newborns to four years of age

We then traveled to Nha Trang, which is in the central part of Vietnam. We conducted similar teaching exercises at their provincial hospital.  I am in the process of establishing a prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment center at this location. 

Dr. Seth Cohen at Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi

Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler operating in Nha Trang

Dr. Cohen is an expert in advanced techniques of gastroenterology. He performed several operations with the chief of this department.

Dr. Kavalar is a urologist experienced in correction of urinary incontinence and pelvic fistulas, abnormal functions between the bladder, the vagina, and rectum.

In addition to instructing the Vietnamese physicians on their surgical techniques they also gave didactic lectures in these fields. We established contact with the medical director of the women's hospital in Hanoi.

They had numerous patients that would benefit from Dr. Kavalar's surgical procedures. We will be establishing an ongoing teaching program at this hospital because of the serious needs of the patients.

Dr. Zelikovsky with the members of the Border Area Development Association

Dr. Zelikovsky with the surgical staff in the Yangon

Yangon, Myanmar

Hanoi, Vietnam

I explained the mission statement of global medical volunteers to the physicians in Yangon and they put me in touch with an NGO(Non-Governmental Organization) run by a group of retired Myanmar physicians and founded by the former ambassador of Myanmar to Australia and New Zealand. Their mission is to develop education, sanitation, and medical services in all the most remote areas of the country.

Their organization is named the Border Areas Development Association (BADA).  I was very fortunate to be introduced to these gentlemen as it would have been impossible for me to have identified remote areas where we could be of help in such a vast country.

I have been in contact with the administration of BADA and we are in the process of selecting a province for our first practical and working visit. If things go well they should be scheduled for March of 2015. This is an exciting new project as there are vast areas and numerous communities that are impoverished and in need of help.

The city of Yangon is in the southern most part of the country and has adequate facilities and physicians to supply the needs of the local population. Myanmar is a very large country and shares borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. The remote areas apparently have very poor medical facilities and inadequate numbers of medical personnel.

In December 2013, I visited Myanmar for the first time. This was suggested to me by a patient of mine and a plastic surgeon who are both from Myanmar. They put me in contact with the chief of urology of the principal hospital of Yangon and with the Dean of the medical school.

Myanmar & Vietnam 2013