Operation International Team Spain is no stranger to Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Ghana. In fact, it was team leader Dr. Carmen Nofuentes’ year-long mission at the hospital in 2021 that sparked the origin of the international OI team, who now leads annual medical mission trips across the globe.

This month, Team Spain’s footprint at the Operation International base will expand yet again. Two residents from Dr. Nofuentes’ San Juan University Hospital in Alicante, Spain will spend an entire month at Holy Family Hospital offering their expertise and learning from the local staff. The month-long rotation was approved at the local, district and national level in Spain under the title “emergencies in a scarce resource country.”

Typically, residents in Spain complete a rotation in a hospital that offers a specific procedure not at their home hospital, but in the case of the Ghana rotation, the program will focus on Holy Family Hospital’s ability to complete procedures with limited resources and treat patients with pathologies not typically seen in Spain, including typhoid perforations, severe complications of diabetes or AIDS, and larvae infections.

While San Juan University Hospital is the only hospital offering the program so far, the hope is the rotation opportunity will become available to other residents in the future.

“The program provides full credit for any rotation carried out in our base in Ghana, and the site in Ghana is now considered integral part of the training,” Operation International Chairman Medhat Allam said. “This rotation has been approved on the national level in Spain, and we are hoping that more hospitals will be applying to join in the near future.”

Read below for a Q&A with the two residents, Hugo Teixeira and Maria Chia Bouzo.

How did you learn about the opportunity to volunteer with Operation International? What motivated you to pursue a trip to Holy Family Hospital in Techiman?

We learned about Operation International through Dr. Carmen Nofuentes and the rest of Team Spain. Not only are they colleagues, but they’re also close friends of ours. As doctors, the motivation to help others is always present—it’s what drives us in our daily practice. The opportunity to use our knowledge and skills in a place where they can have a significant impact is something most doctors feel compelled to do. Working in a setting like Techiman is an incredible privilege, and we’re honored to be a part of this mission.

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What kind of surgeries or procedures will you focus on while in Techiman? Will you be teaching local staff as well? If so, in what areas?

At the moment, we’re already integrated in the surgical team day to day operations, we are focusing primarily on the emergency cases as well as programmed surgeries. We are still gaining an understanding of the hospital’s most pressing needs. We have adapted our approach to align with their practices, the tools that are available to us, and we are trying to apply our skills to serve the community as effectively as possible. Beyond contributing our expertise, we are also learning from the local doctors—understanding how they navigate challenges with limited resources and gaining insight into the pathologies they commonly encounter.

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Please tell me a little about each of your backgrounds.

My name is Hugo, I’m a 30-year-old General Surgery resident, originally from Portugal. I moved to Madrid at the age of 13, where I completed both high school and medical school. After graduating, I chose to specialize in General Surgery and began my residency in Alicante.

During my university years, I participated in missions in Uganda and Nepal through the NGO ELI Abroad, where I had the opportunity to work directly in hospital settings. These experiences confirmed my commitment to contributing to future humanitarian missions, especially now that I’m better trained and equipped to do so.

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My name is Maria Chia, I’m 29 years old and currently a fourth-year general surgery resident at Hospital de San Juan. I was born in a small village in the Catalan Pyrenees, but moved to a town in Valencia when I was 10, where I completed secondary school.

There are no doctors in my family, although my parents always say I wanted to be one since I was a child. At 18, I returned to Catalonia to study Medicine, and already in my first year, I felt drawn to surgery.

During my training, I haven’t had many opportunities to travel, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. From the outside, it may seem like my main motivation is to help others — and while that’s true, this path also represents a personal journey of growth and purpose for me.

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What are you most excited about for the trip?

We’re excited to become a part of the hospital team, immerse ourselves in the local culture, and learn from both the community and our fellow medical professionals. Above all, we look forward to make the most of this unique and humbling experience.

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