An America surgeon awarded for his service in Bhutan
An orthopaedic health professional Dr. Robert Stein who served in Bhutan for more than two decades has been awarded in the US capital on Saturday. Dr. Stein, 69, has been helping Bhutanese citizens infected bones, children with severe disease since 1990. During that time, Bhutan had not a single doctor to look after these illnesses.
For all these years, he treated patients — and trained doctors. Under his efforts, Bhutan now has five orthopaedic surgeons. Stein is one of the recipients of Golden Apple Award from the non-profit Health Volunteers Overseas for his front-line work as Bhutan’s first orthopaedic volunteer. Head of the orthopaedic hospital in Bhutan nominated Stein for the award.
He’s always had a burning desire to teach in a Third World country, he said, wanting to increase access to quality orthopaedic care. He began by researching which countries could benefit most from such services. He made a cold call to the Royal Bhutanese Mission to the United Nations, asking whether Bhutan would be interested in his program. Governmental officials agreed, and his overseas medical mission was born.
Stein has been a member of Health Volunteers Overseas since 1988, served as program director for Bhutan for 19 years and was a board member for Orthopaedics Overseas. For his work in Bhutan, Stein also received the Orthopaedics Overseas Leadership Award in 2009.
Once the program Stein created gained momentum, the Bhutanese Ministry of Health requested assistance from Health Volunteers Overseas in establishing similar initiatives in physical therapy, nurse anaesthesia, paediatrics, emergency medicine, internal medicine and mental health.