By Jaxson, Enon Healthy Warrior | There were three things that stood out to me when I recently interviewed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neil Sheth for Healthy NewsWorks. He works with doctors in the United States and Africa to help people in Tanzania who have broken bones and other problems.

One thing was about a time when Dr. Sheth was in Tanzania and he asked a group of people who was next in line to get checked. One patient said, “It’s my turn, but she can go next,” because the woman he pointed to looked like she hurt more. That really stood out to me, because Dr. Sheth said that you don’t find people that nice every day.

Secondly, Dr. Sheth could have chosen any place to help people, but he said he chose Tanzania because it needed a lot of help. Dr. Sheth said that he could have helped India, because he has family there and he speaks some of the same languages. But he felt the needs were greater in Tanzania.

Lastly, the thing that stood out to me was when Dr. Sheth said that if he puts his mind to building a hospital, he will build that hospital! I like his confidence.  

Editor’s note: Neil P. Sheth, M.D., F.A.C.S., is chief of orthopedic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Sheth is working with a team to build an Orthopedic Center of Excellence at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania. This effort is in conjunction with KCMC and the Tanzanian Ministry of Health.