Dr. James Mulenga

Dr. James Mulenga is a Fellow of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (FCS ECSA) practising at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia's national referral hospital and the largest public tertiary health facility in the country. With 20 years of operative experience, Dr. Mulenga is one of the most experienced general surgeons in Zambia's public hospital system, having trained and practised through the full career arc of a sub-Saharan African teaching hospital surgeon — from junior resident to senior consultant and surgical trainer.

Dr. Mulenga's surgical career at UTH has been characterised by high operative volumes across both elective and emergency surgery, reflecting the demands of a hospital that serves not only Lusaka's urban population but also patients referred from all ten of Zambia's provinces and from neighbouring countries. He has a particular reputation for trauma surgery and complex abdominal cases, areas in which UTH's surgical department manages some of the most challenging presentations in the region. He consults in English and communicates in Bemba and Nyanja, allowing him to speak directly with patients from Zambia's Copperbelt, Luapula, and Eastern Provinces without interpreter assistance.

Dr. Mulenga completed his MBChB at the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Medicine, after which he undertook his post-graduate surgical training through a structured residency programme based primarily at UTH. Following completion of his residency, he sat for and passed the Fellowship examination of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) — the FCS (ECSA) — which is the recognised regional surgical fellowship qualification for East and Southern Africa and is equivalent to the Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) in scope and standard.

His surgical training included comprehensive exposure to elective and emergency abdominal surgery, trauma surgery, breast and thyroid surgery, and paediatric surgical emergencies. He has attended laparoscopic surgery training workshops organised under COSECSA's skills development programme and has been involved in surgical skills training courses held at UTH for junior surgeons from Zambia and neighbouring countries.

Dr. Mulenga's operative expertise spans the breadth of general surgery required at a high-volume African tertiary hospital. In emergency surgery, he is highly proficient in performing emergency laparotomies for trauma — including penetrating abdominal injuries and blunt trauma with visceral injury — as well as for acute abdominal emergencies such as perforated peptic ulcer, perforated appendicitis, and strangulated hernia with bowel ischaemia. UTH's trauma service receives a high volume of road traffic accident victims and interpersonal violence cases, giving Dr. Mulenga extensive experience in damage control surgery and staged operative management of complex abdominal trauma.

In elective surgery, Dr. Mulenga performs hernia repair including laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal repair where equipment allows, cholecystectomy for gallstone disease, bowel resection for colorectal cancer and inflammatory conditions, thyroidectomy, mastectomy and axillary clearance for breast cancer, and splenectomy. He also manages necrotising soft tissue infections — a life-threatening condition requiring radical surgical debridement — and complex wound care including skin grafting. He is an active surgical supervisor for COSECSA residents training at UTH.

Dr. Mulenga has contributed to surgical outcome studies at UTH, including retrospective analyses of operative mortality in emergency laparotomy and outcomes following colorectal cancer resection in the Zambian public hospital context. He has co-authored case series published through the East and Central African Journal of Surgery and has participated in multi-centre COSECSA research initiatives examining surgical training outcomes across the region. He presents regularly at the annual COSECSA scientific conference and at the Zambia Medical Association's surgical symposia.

The University Teaching Hospital's surgical department serves patients from across Zambia and from neighbouring countries including Zimbabwe, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo who travel to Lusaka for surgical care not available at their home facilities. Dr. Mulenga regularly performs elective and semi-elective surgery for patients from the Zambian diaspora who return to Lusaka for hernia repair, cholecystectomy, and other planned surgical procedures, typically at considerably lower cost than equivalent procedures abroad. He is experienced in working with international patients and conducts pre-operative consultations in English. Patients from the Copperbelt and northern provinces are equally comfortable consulting in Bemba. International and diaspora patients planning elective surgery are advised to contact UTH's surgical outpatient clinic in advance to arrange pre-operative assessment and scheduling.

Dr. Mulenga's attainment of the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (FCS ECSA) is itself a major professional recognition, achieved through a competitive and rigorous examination process that validates surgical competence at a regional standard. He has been recognised by the UTH surgical directorate for his long-term contribution to both patient care and surgical education at Zambia's national hospital. COSECSA has acknowledged his role as a surgical trainer and programme supervisor in contributing to the development of the next generation of Zambian and regional general surgeons.