A visiting medical team from the Diego Gonzalez Rivas Foundation comprising Surgeons from three different Countries including Morocco, Spain, and the Netherlands through a collaborative effort with Doctors at the JFK Medical Center’s surgical department, has successfully conducted a lobectomy surgery on a thirty-five (35) year old female and her recovery process lasted 24 hours.

A lobectomy is a surgical procedure where an entire lobe of your lung is removed for a variety of reasons that may include a lung cancer diagnosis, infection, COPD, or benign tumors.

The surgery was conducted by using (Uniportal VATS) a technique invented by one of the visiting Doctors Dr. Diego Gonzalez Rivas in 2010. Uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery (Uni-VATS) is a minimally invasive surgery that involves accessing the lungs through a single incision. During the Uni-VATS procedure, the surgeon creates a small incision, several centimeters wide, between the ribs.

According to Dr. Diego who is the head of the delegation, he has traveled to over one hundred and thirty countries around the world conducting surgeries using the Uni-VATS minimal invasive surgical method which was invented by him. He said, his foundation will continue collaborating with the John F. Kennedy Medical Center.

Dr. Peter Coleman who is also the head of the Department of Surgery at the JFK Medical Center said, the collaboration that was started with the Dutch Surgical Society and the JFK Medical Center has blossomed and is now bringing in other partners and humanitarian health organizations such as the Diego Gonzalez Rivas Foundation that is also in partnership with the Real Madrid Foundation.

Dr. Coleman revealed that the partnership is intended to provide surgical services and also train local Doctors at the JFK Medical Center on how to conduct those surgical procedures. The Diego Gonzalez Rivas Foundation has donated several pieces of equipment to the Medical Center that will be used by Doctors to continue providing medical services for patients at the JFK Medical Center.