Charity surgery mission marks 10 years

Surgeons from Canada and Japan first started going to Tunisia 10 years ago.

Doctors David Precious, Reg Goodday, Chad Robertson, all members of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Dalhousie, and Michael Shimizu (Dal alumnus, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery currently professor at the University of Western Ontario) will meet with the Minister of Health for Tunisia, M. Mondher Zenaidi, on Saturday, Feb. 9 to mark the start of the 10th annual charity surgery mission in Tunisia.

The first mission in 1998 took place in Bizerte when Dr. Precious and Ben Davis of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Dalhousie teamed with surgeons from Japan and Tunisia. Since that time, more than 500 children have been evaluated for care and the mission has grown to include surgeons from Italy, France, Japan, Tunisia and Canada. Archie Morrison, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Dalhousie, participated in the 2007 mission in Sousse.

This year, the surgery will take place in Sfax at the Habib Bourguiba Hospital.