Dubai: Dubai’s growing status as a hub for cross-border medical outreach is set to gain further momentum as UAE-based orthopedic surgeon Dr Azam Badar Khan – widely known as “Dr Knee” – prepares to conduct Malawi’s first-ever knee surgery camp in January, a milestone expected to reshape orthopedic access in one of the world’s least developed countries.

The announcement comes less than a year after a mission last December in which Dr Knee evaluated more than 400 patients in just four days across Blantyre and the capital Lilongwe, revealing the scale of untreated knee disorders in a country – one of the world’s least developed with a population of over 21 million people – with no dedicated knee surgeon and limited orthopedic infrastructure. Conditions ranged from severe osteoarthritis to long-neglected injuries, underscoring what Dr Knee called “a silent epidemic of mobility loss” across underserved African communities.

“Malawi doesn’t just have a medical gap – it has decades of unaddressed knee disease,” Dr Knee told reporters in Dubai during the announcement of the camp. “The need is overwhelming, but the hope is real. Our camp will provide life-changing surgeries for patients who have been waiting their entire lives for proper treatment, and it will help build the foundations of long-term orthopedic care.”

The January camp will bring advanced surgical services – including total knee replacements, arthroscopic procedures and corrective surgeries – to a population that has never before had local access to such interventions. Regional health officials say the initiative could meaningfully reduce disability linked to knee disorders and introduce a sustainable model for treatment pathways that can be replicated across neighboring countries.

For Dubai, the initiative reflects its expanding influence as a base for global humanitarian and medical collaboration. The emirate has increasingly positioned itself as a connector between Asia and Africa for healthcare partnerships – a trend amplified this year as the UAE celebrates Eid Al Etihad, its National Day, with a renewed emphasis on international knowledge-sharing and medical diplomacy.

“Dubai has given us the platform, infrastructure and reach to scale a movement that started with one mission: helping people walk pain-free for longer,” said Dr Knee who has served across some of Dubai’s top hospitals for over two decades. “What we are doing in Malawi is not an isolated camp – it’s the beginning of a continental blueprint.”

His team is now in advanced discussions with hospitals and health authorities in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Uganda, exploring long-term collaborations ranging from specialist training to joint-health education and early-diagnosis programs. These efforts are part of a wider mobility mission that has also expanded across India and the UAE, anchored by Dr Knee’s much-talked-about “Walk Again with Dr Knee” campaign set to take place for the first time in Dubai this February.

“We are building an interconnected network of mobility care across the Middle East, Asia and Africa,” he said. “Every country we enter strengthens the next – and ultimately helps people stay mobile, active and independent for as long as possible.”

Health officials in Malawi say the January camp could become a defining moment for the country’s orthopedic sector, not only delivering essential surgeries but also transferring skills to local medical teams and establishing the groundwork for future specialist clinics.
The January Malawi surgery camp – set to be held for 6 days from January 19 to 24 across LMJ Hospital Limbe in Blantyre and LSF Hospital, Lilongwe – is expected to act as a replicable model across the continent, reinforcing Dubai’s role in shaping regional healthcare partnerships and advancing Dr Knee’s wider mission to help communities across Africa “walk pain-free for longer.”