Fifteen Good Friends’ Beautiful Adventure

                                 - Seven Days of Medical Service at Mongolia -                                          
                                                                                                                         Yong-Pil Cho

It was late in the day on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009, as we made our way to Incheon International Airport. We were
in a twitter as we headed to the airport, bringing with us 28 medical supply boxes, each weighing more than
10 kilograms. Our flight left at 8 p.m. and we landed three hours later at Chinggis Khan International Airport in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - the land of the descendants of the legendary Chinggis Khan.


That was how the 15 of us started our beautiful adventure to Mongolia.


The next morning, we started performing medical examinations, treatments and surgeries at three different
locations in Ulaanbaatar - Mongolia Hospital #3, Yonsei Friendship Hospital and Agape Clinic. It was like the film
“Mission Impossible” – our medical team with 15 different specialties doing 350 medical examinations and
treatments, and 20 surgeries over a span of two days in a foreign city. Back in Korea, before our trip began, we
planned to do some shopping and touring in Ulaanbaatar, but we had to let that idea go due to the amount of work
we had before us.


That Saturday, our second full day in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Hospital #3 asked us for a consultation on one of their
patients. This patient had an abdominal aortic aneurysm with a maximal diameter of 6cm. That type of
aneurysm has a 5-10 percent perioperative mortality rate even though an elective surgery. This patient also had
chronic liver disease, which caused his platelet count to go under 70,000/dL, leading us to believe he had a
bleeding tendency. We didn’t have a prosthetic graft for this operation and weren’t ready with an intra-
operative transfusion because it was the weekend. The next day we were supposed to go to our second
destination, Khatgal, and after serious discussion, we decided to have the surgery team arrive at Ulaanbaatar one
day before the departure date to Korea. This would give us the opportunity to perform the surgery the next day when
everything would be ready at Mongolia Hospital #3.


The next day, after the round of visits at the hospital, we moved to our second destination, Khatgal. It was a tough
trip. The trip to Khatgal consisted of a one-hour flight, a bumpy three-hour drive in a Russian minivan,
complete with car-sick patch, and a one-hour boat ride in which we endured freezing temperatures.
We were extremely tired and had to start the medical examination, treatment and surgery again the next day, but
we really felt good and fell asleep with that feeling at the traditional Mongolian ger On Monday, July 27th, 2009,
we were near Khovsgol Lake, where our Khatgal camp was located. It was the most beautiful scene I have ever
seen. The area was untouched by humans and showed us what unharmed nature was really like.
The working environment at Khatgal was completely different from that in Ulaanbaatar. We examined the
patients without medical equipments and we did surgeries wearing only surgical gloves without the aseptic
surgical gowns. We weren’t prepared because we had not been told about the environment here, but we did
manage to examine more than 300 patients and perform 6 surgeries.

             


The next day, Tuesday, was the day for our surgery team to go to Ulaanbaatar to perform surgery on the patient
with the abdominal aortic aneurysm, but we were faced with many problems. Not only did the hospital still not
have the prosthetic graft ready, but there wasn’t even a flight available to Ulaanbaatar. It was very depressing for
us because if we didn’t perform the surgery, the patient would die. We had to plan another “Mission
Impossible”-style mission for this surgery. We decided to call Seoul for a prosthetic graft to fly over to Ulaanbaatar
as soon as possible. Our return flight to Seoul from Ulaanbaatar wasn’t until the next night, so we decided to arrive
at Ulaanbaatar around 3 p.m. and do the surgery right before our flight.

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009, was our last day in Mongolia. We woke up early to pack our bags and got on the
Russian minivan headed toward Ulaanbaatar again. Our time in Mongolia was very memorable, and I will never
forget the experience we had there. We arrived in Ulaanbaatar and the surgery team went straight to Mongolia
Hospital #3. We were exhausted from the bumpy ride and flying but we had to do the surgery right way
because of the time limit. The surgery took four hours and was performed successfully. The surgery was
challenging because we were in a completely new environment. After the surgery, we had to hurry to the airport.
On the way out, we met the patient’s family and they gave us a traditional wooden doll and leather pocket as
a thank-you gift.
This concluded seven days of medical voluntary service in Mongolia. We boarded the plane to Korea and
headed home. Our adventure was over, but we were left with beautiful, lasting memories. 


 
Acknowledgements

1. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Jungshin Jay Lee, the President of Asan Medical Center, and all of the staffs who
helped us with the medical service in Mongolia.


2. I like to thank Prof. Kim KS, the head of the volunteers, and the 13 other good friends who helped make this
medical service successful. I really hope we will work together again next year.


3. I like to thank Kwon SH, missionary, and the two other people who helped us with interpreting and translating.
I would also like to thank all of the medical staffs of Mongolia Hospital #3, Yonsei Friendship
hospital and the other medical clinics.


4. The patient with an abdominal aortic aneurysm was well enough to leave the hospital after the surgery.I like to
thank the surgery team, Dr. Moon KM, Dr. Cho JY, Dr. Hwang JY and R.N. Kim YR for their devoted ssistance.