Operation Straight Spine Provides Spine Care to Needy Patients in the Third World
Each year, Jeffrey McConnell, MD, and a team of approximately 10 nurses, anesthesiologists, neuromonitoring technicians and spine surgeons visit Kolkata, India, to treat underprivileged children and adults with spinal diseases and deformities. Dr. McConnell is co-founder of the charitable mission, known as Operation Straight Spine, which is the first project of its kind in India.
Dr. McConnell, who practices with OAA’s Pennsylvania Spine and Scoliosis Institute in Allentown, co-founded OSS with Dr. Ujjwal Debnath, FRCS, who practices in the UK.* Dr. McConnell met Dr. Debnath while completing their fellowships at the Centre for Spinal Studies and Surgery, Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham, England. After extensive planning, the surgeons began visiting Kolkata through OSS in its 2006 pilot program and have returned each year since.