25th October 2025
Thanks to contributions from T-shirt sales through registrations for the Charity run in 2025 and at the ESVS booth; contributions to the ESVS Foundation, sponsorship, and donations to our GoFundMe page, you raised just over EUR 5,000 for Mission Ethiopia! A big thank you to everyone involved and especially the EVST, who chose the hospital being supported and who have been helping to coordinate the ongoing work behind the scenes.
Part of that work was to choose an expert vascular surgeon to go to the Tikur Anbessa Hospital in Addis Ababa. It really was a difficult choice with so many experts applying but in the end, Igor Koncar was selected.
Now, Igor is preparing his visit in January, preparing a member of the Ethiopian team to come to Serbia and organising equipment to be sent to Addis Ababa. Read on to find out more about his plans.
Part I
My Voluntary Mission to an Ethiopian Hospital
Over the past four years, I participated in the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) Charity Run — and I absolutely loved it. The combination of a spirited sporting event, great friends and colleagues, and the charitable mission behind it made it endlessly rewarding. I’m always battling to avoid last place, since this is truly the only time I actually run.
For 15 years I proudly served the ESVS, most recently as Chair of the Academy, dedicating myself to education. When I was preparing to step back from my ESVS commitments, I learned that funds raised through the Charity Run had been allocated to support a vascular department in Ethiopia. This presented for me an ideal opportunity to merge my passions for education, charity, and the common good. I wasn’t alone in applying, and it was a pleasure to stand among such an outstanding group of educators, scientists, and clinicians — especially after receiving that “pleased to inform you” email.
“And now for something completely different,” as Monty Python once quipped. Visiting another hospital and sharing my experience presents a unique challenge. Although I have been proctoring endovascular aortic procedures for more than a decade, this assignment is more complex and demanding than ever. I hope that my background at a high-volume centre in a developing country can prove beneficial. Given the constraints of my schedule and budget, the mission is planned for two weeks—and I feel energised to return home with both new improvements implemented and shared lifelong experiences. I see this opportunity not merely as performing several complex cases, but as a chance to enhance systems and education. Over the past few months I’ve focused on preparing for the visit in the most efficient way possible. Our “What’s-App” group set the tone perfectly! Through several conference calls with my hosts I acquainted myself with their protocols and activities, and together we identified areas ripe for improvement.
We kicked off with short online educational sessions in various fields to introduce my team and theirs, and to begin knowledge transfer: from cell-saving and blood-management techniques to vascular topics like symptomatic carotid disease and ultrasound training. We also decided it would be valuable for one member of the host hospital’s team to spend time in my department before my visit—learning ultrasound, observing our high-volume protocols and cases—so they arrive prepared and already familiar with our approach. This training is coming up in December.
I would also like to propose establishing aortic simulators on-site to support this goal and have been working to make that happen. As a result, a sponsor has agreed to send an aortic simulator, instruments and inlays for free and the ESVS is covering the shipment of the materials.
By enabling this exchange, we can build sustainable educational capacity, bridge global training gaps, and promote the common good of vascular surgery in a developing context.
Sincerely, Igor Koncar.
We wish the hospital and Igor a productive and inspiring experience!