When the MedSend board envisioned and launched our National Scholars program less than a decade ago, we prayed for these four distinct outcomes:Â
- Increase the number of highly trained and qualified doctors in the regions we supportÂ
- The newly trained national doctors would stay in areas of high need and deliver medicine to their people
- The newly trained doctors would stay involved in the training programs and become trainers to additional national physicians
- These fully trained doctors would have the opportunity to transform the healthcare systems of their home nationsÂ
Since the program’s founding, MedSend has provided 91 national scholarships. To date ALL MedSend National Scholar graduates have stayed in areas of high need throughout Africa and Asia. Fifteen have stayed on in the program where they trained. Â
This past December we celebrated the opening of the first Christian based surgical training program in the country of Burundi thanks to the dedicated efforts of several MedSend grant recipients and National Scholars at Kibuye Hope Hospital in rural Burundi (Blog post: HOPE for Burundi).Â
We are overjoyed to share the most recent update about the latest incredible development transforming Burundi’s national healthcare system.Â
The photo above is of Dr. Boaz, an early MedSend National Scholars graduate. Here he is announcing to the nation of Burundi, one of the poorest and most medically understaffed countries in the world, that the government will now recognize and license family medicine physicians. It is the program he graduated from and petitioned the government to recognize. Â
The outcomes the board of MedSend envisioned a decade ago have all been fulfilled in under 10 years. We are just getting started! Thank you to all who have made it possible through your generous donations. To help us double the size and impact of our National Scholars program over the next several years, we ask for your continued financial support as we work to reach the world with the Gospel through compassionate care.Â
