An email asking trainers who are thinking of volunteering for 2024 programs went out last week. If you didn't receive it and are interested in investigating participation, here is a link with the information you need. Don't delay.
Fantastic Olympus 190 Processor Donation
Dr Eric Wegman, Sydney Clinic for Gastrointestinal Diseases, has generously donated an Olympus 190 Series Processor. It has gone to the Timor-Leste national hospital, which had been struggling along with old 180 series equipment. Along with a donation of four scopes from Concord Hospital, it was first used with last week's visiting team (below). Dr Wegman is pictured with nine time trainer Cath Conway who approached Dr Wegman.
Timor-Leste Team Heavy Lifting
The training team led by Kate Napthali that went to Timor-Leste last week carried quite a load - processor (see above), scopes and accessories. Some of it is pictured below. They were superb working with Di Jones to get items to check-in and to make the most of standard and frequent flyer luggage allocations, both in the cabin and the hold! Not a penny spent on excess luggage - thank you team and Di. This is an extreme example of the contribution made by all our teams, who use of their allocations to take valued items with them.
Samoa & Solomon Island Programs Completed
Two further one-week programs, to Samoa and Solomon Islands, have been successfully undertaken in recent weeks. Thank you to the trainers who volunteered. The Samoa visits this year and in the next two are being sponsored by the Epworth Foundation which is also funding two-week observerships for a doctor and nurse in Geelong and Melbourne during November.
No-longer-needed Equipment & Accessories? We can use!
If you are aware of endoscopes or other equipment as well as accessories used in endoscopy units that are no longer required, please consider donating them to ANZGITA. Note that expired accessories are not necessarily unusable. Please check with us. Our partners are in low resource countries and, although they work hard to resource their units, there is always an opportunity for us to assist. We work with industry partners to refurbish equipment. This activity is a high priority for us.Read More Here.
Please put in a good word for us with whoever is responsible or, better still, let us know who we should speak to. We can arrange for donations to be picked up and stored. Please email secretary@anzgita.org.
The Pacific Gut Club Webinar for 2023 are being well attended by doctors and nurses from the Pacific Island Countries and beyond. Information on the next webinar and how to join:
TITLE: "Bariatric Surgery" DATE: Thursday, 26 October 2023 - last Thursday of each month
TIME: 7.00pm-8.00pm FIJI time (6pm AEDT, 5pm AEST & 8pm NZST)
PLACE: Virtual Zoom Meetings hosted by Pacific Basin TRC in Hawaii
LEADER: Mr Mark Smith, Te Whatu Ora – Southern MODERATOR: Prof Michael Schultz, University of Otago, Dunedin NZ
Here are some articles that caught our eye this month. If you have suggestions for the next newsletter, please let us know. Since the last newsletter the Austalian Government has released its new international development policyand development finance review.
Here is acommentary on the policyby Marc Purcell, CEO Australian Council for International Development.
SPONSORSHIP SUPPORT
ANZGITA gratefully acknowledges the support of all our sponsors, donors and grant providers who have generously supported our work.
We particularly note the continuing financial support of the JGH Foundationover many years, the Epworth Foundation for the support of our Samoa programs andRACS Global Health PCSHWIP, which receives DFAT funding, for the Fiji program.
The following industry suppliers have committed long-term substantial support in-kind and in some cases financial: CR Kennedy, Whiteley, Boston Scientific,Cantel, CK Surgitech, Cook Medical, Olympus and Pentax.