Island-Hopping Medics Make a Difference
Saturday, 10 September 2005
Island-Hopping Medics Make a Difference
By Mike Bingham
The Mercury
Imagine a world where a patient's urgent healthcare is a four-day canoe ride away.
And imagine that patient saying to medicos, even those unable to help: "Thank you for coming to see us."
Hobart plastic surgeon Simon Thomson and anaesthetist Mike Martyn know what that means. It is one of the reasons that drives them to give up holidays and income every year or so.
They are just back from a week-long stint on an island in Vanuatu where they helped 30 patients ranging in age from babies to adults.
Tanna Island has 30,000 residents and there's 5000 more on nearby islands.
The local hospital lacks hot water, has 60 beds and only one doctor -- a GP who is part of a long-standing support program by Canada.
The operating facilities are basic and official management memos include ongoing concerns about dogs and chickens within the hospital.
For Dr Thomson and Dr Martyn, it was the fifth time in recent years they have used holidays to offer their skills free to Pacific communities, under the Interplast Australia program which is backed by Rotary in Tasmania.
Next year, they'll be in Samoa.
Dr Thomson and Dr Martyn are just a part of Tasmanian professions' voluntary involvement in the region.
"We do the things we know we can make a success of," Dr Thomson said. "Our aim is to make a difference to people and their community, and to maintain the trust built up in the Pacific by Australian medical teams. "That translates to a child having his or her split lip or cleft palate repaired, allowing the individual to eat and speak. Or enabling a worker to regain the use of a hand disabled by a bush knife injury."
The operations mean much to the patients and their families. For the medical professionals, there's the knowledge that routine operations can have a hugely positive impact on communities.
Dr Thomson and Dr Martyn are married to nurses and Dr Martyn's wife was part of the team in Vanuatu. They acknowledged the huge role Aussie nurses played in helping locals increase skills.
As to why Tasmania delivered such an extraordinary amount of expertise, they thought it was because Tasmania was more community orientated than bigger states and cities.
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