PAACS Resident Profile
Dr. Estifanos Bafa
General Surgery Resident
Malamulo Adventist Hospital
Malawi
Dr. Estifanos Bafa grew up in a Christian family in Ethiopia in the town of Soddo, close to Soddo Christian Hospital (SCH). He was raised with the knowledge that Jesus and the Bible were the answer to all of life’s issues. However, it was not until he attended a weekend gathering of fasting and prayer, that he met the Holy Spirit and his heart and mind were transformed. He wept and started repenting at this encounter with the Spirit of Christ and he was given a much deeper understanding of Jesus and His love and compassion. He went from having a head knowledge of Christ to truly experiencing the love of Christ. His life was forever changed that day.
Because his home was close to SCH, he often witnessed missionary physicians and surgeons caring for the people of his town. These missionaries commonly shared Christ with their patients. Dr. Bafa also had the opportunity to meet a Professor of Surgery, a missionary from Australia, who became his mentor and inspired him by his passion and love for Christ in caring for his patients. This meeting changed the trajectory of Dr. Bafa’s life. He knew that this was a God encounter as he felt the Holy Spirit calling him to become a missionary surgeon.
God eventually led Dr. Bafa to PAACS. He knew it perfectly aligned with the path God was setting before him. PAACS would allow him to follow his dream of becoming a missionary surgeon, like his mentor, while being able to share the experience he carried about Christ and the Holy Spirit with his patients. “PAACS is not just about becoming a skilled surgeon,” Dr. Bafa explains. “It’s about using those skills to serve with compassion and spread the love of Jesus.” However, his journey to becoming a missionary surgeon led him in a direction he was not expecting. He had to leave his home and family in Ethiopia and travel to a new country. God took him to Malamulo Adventist Hospital in Malawi where he is now a second-year General Surgery PAACS resident. His time with PAACS has strengthened both his surgical skills and his faith, equipping him to provide care in resource-limited settings while sharing Christ with his patients.
Dr. Bafa’s faithful choice undoubtedly made a life-changing impact on a 35-year-old woman. She came to him in tears, feeling hopeless after being told by another facility that her large intra-abdominal mass was inoperable. She had been placed on palliative care and told there was no hope for recovery. Dr. Bafa spoke words of comfort and encouragement from scripture and prayed with his patient. Despite the hospital’s limited resources, Dr. Bafa and his team decided to explore surgically. During the operation, they discovered a large ovarian mass, which, by God’s grace, was benign. “We praised God for guiding us through the surgery,” he recalls. “Without it, she likely would have remained on palliative care.” Now, she is living a full, healthy life. That experience reinforced Dr. Bafa’s commitment to trusting God, the power of prayer, and providing surgical care, even in challenging situations.
“Through PAACS, I’m learning to be the hands and feet of Jesus, in every surgery and every patient interaction,” he says. With a heart set on service and compassion, Dr. Bafa is ready to make a lasting impact in Africa, bringing healing and hope wherever God leads him.
