I have always wanted to serve as a missionary

What you need to know:

Dr Avison Missionary Professors are sent by Severance Hospital Mission Centre to foreign mission fields. They work in the local hospitals with local doctors, assisting them in the area of education, research, and patient treatment as well as doing other mission activities.

On December 27, last year at the staff worship service in Severance Hospital in South Korea, Dr Seung Kon Huh, Professor Emeritus of Yonsei University College of Medicine, was appointed as Dr Avison Missionary Professor in Africa, particularly in Tanzania.

Dr Avison Missionary Professors are sent by Severance Hospital Mission Centre to foreign mission fields. They work in the local hospitals with local doctors, assisting them in the area of education, research, and patient treatment as well as doing other mission activities.

In the past, four emeritus professors were sent to Mongolia. But this time, Dr Huh is the first Dr Avison Missionary Professor to be sent to Africa by Severance Hospital. It hadn’t even been a year since his retirement from Severance Hospital, which is affiliated to Yonsei University College of Medicine, when Dr Huh embarked on his new journey to Tanzania on January 2, 2018.

Despite struggling for almost seven months to get work and residence permits for long term stay in Tanzania, Dr Huh did not turn down an invitation by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) to come to Tanzania to offer his expertise in treating patients, performing surgeries, teaching medical students as well as evangelising in the community.

Coming all the way from South Korea to work in Tanzania was a dream comes true for Dr Huh. “I have been waiting for this moment since the day I graduated from medical school,” says Dr Huh, who is the first Dr Avison Missionary Professor for Tanzania.

“I am following my vision I’ve had for almost forty years. I have been dreaming of becoming a medical missionary so that I can share what I know as a doctor with those in need,” adds Dr Huh, who is a neurosurgeon.

It is very lucky that the state-of-art hospital opened in November 2017 with a 600-bed capacity has one of the world’s best Neurosurgeons. “What is more important than having good facilities is the medical staff,” says Dr Huh at currently serving at the MUHAS Academic Medical Center (MAMC), the high tech medical facility, which South Korean government funded its construction at the tune of $76m.

In the past, all four missionaries from Dr Avison Missionary Professor served in Mongolia. Dr Huh has been preparing himself to be a missionary with his wife, Young, for years. Before making a final decision to serve in the country, Dr Huh and his wife visited many countries including Tanzania.

“We went on a mission trip to several countries in Africa and Southeast Asia during my sabbatical,” he says. Dr Huh and his wife also visited Angola and he played a great role in helping those in need of medical services. He performed the first aneurysm clipping in Angola.

While in Cambodia, he operated on a patient with aneurysm at a Preah Kosamak National Hospital. He also played a vital role in extending invitation to young neurosurgeons from Africa and Southeast Asia to South Korea and trained them for several months.

Dr Huh and Young finally chose Tanzania as their mission field. Not only Tanzania seemed to be the perfect place for Dr.Huh’s vision, but also the relationships he developed with over forty Tanzanian doctors who were receiving training at Severance Hospital under the sponsorship of Lee Jong-Wook Fellowship Program moved his heart towards Tanzania.

“I am excited and so thankful that God provided this opportunity and gave me good health to follow my dream. I do know that I have great responsibility as a medical doctor and professor.”

Many of his colleagues and co-workers showed their support by raising fund for his missions. Dr Huh hopes that people will remember and keep praying for him and his wife as they do their mission work.

“Please pray that I will save people’s lives by healing them as apart from offering medical treatment, I will have the opportunities to share the Gospel with them,” he says. Dr Huh hopes that the success of his mission to Tanzania will serve as an inspirational factor and put him as a role model for many doctors in South Korea. “I’m optimistic that they will be encouraged to embark on similar missions and hopeful there will be many more medical missionaries in the future,” he says.

Dr Huh says his mission will focus on the settling down of MAMC and training young doctors in neurosurgery. “Although vital special medical instrument for cerebrovascular surgery have not yet been fully installed at MAMC, my ambition to set up the Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery at the hospital is still in place,” he says.

Outside of the hospital, Dr Huh will be working together with a Korean NGO, Global Together, for youth soccer teams in Kibaha and Mlandizi.

ers at the area for their medical needs. He will also work with the Tanzania Korean Church as part of his missions to have worship services for the staff, patients, and their families.

The shortage of human resource supporting him is also one of among myriad of challenges. “I have been assisted by orthopedic doctors. I cannot start performing major surgery as I planned. Currently, we are installing special equipment donated from Korea as we are waiting for recruitment of general doctors who will be supporting me,” he says.

“I think there are about 15 neurosurgeons in the country with less than 5 who are residents. I think most of them are working at Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute (MOI) and may be in other well established medical facilities. I’m afraid that it would be very difficult to get their support every time you need,” he adds.

“I have been waiting for their joining since last January. I cannot perform major craniotomy. My dream is to establish East African Microneurosrgery education center. More than 10 million usd is needed for that including for setting up of angiography unit. I am trying to find supporters for that but not easy. I am praying and praying for that. God will make my 40 year dream come true,” he notes .

Having been worked in the health sector for so long, Prof Huh says experience he had shared with doctors and patients in several countries he visited had left him with good memories of education and surgical care for most critical patients. “Saving people’s lives is the most precious thing as a doctor,” he says.

“MAMC is best place to be and I’m optimistic that it would become the centre of excellence in East African region. It is a place for educating and developing cerebrovascular surgery skills for the young neurosurgeons in East African countries. It would make me more proud if I would be part of medical professionals who had contributed towards realization of MAMC dream,” he adds.

According to him, establishing resident training system at MAMC would play a great role in bridging the shortage of medical personnel. “In Korea for instance, there are more than 2000 neurosurgeons in South Korea,” he notes.

“Tanzania and Korea have almost same number of general population. Resident training program should be separated from the master program. I hope MUHAS and Yonsei University (YUHS) already have close relationship for exchange scholarship program,” he adds.

Dr Huh says what would make him more happy is to see more young Tanzanian doctors explore training opportunity in South Korea and come back home to help people in deed of medical services.

“I will find several young doctors and give them the chance to study in YUHS. Dr. Issac Rugemalila, a gynecologist will have the first chance to studying endoscopic gynecological surgery. One or two medical student will have chance to study at YUHS for one month every year,” he says.