Advice to New Hospital in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
Pacific GUT Club upcoming June Meeting
Equipment Donations Information
Good Reads
Sponsorship Support
Tonga Program Completed
Four experienced trainers spent a week at Tonga's Vaiola Hospital for the first program since 2019 and the COVID hiatus. Four new doctor trainees who joined the existing team on the program made great progress and moved from the training simulator to an unassisted gastroscopy within two days. A number of nurses were also introduced to endoscopy practices (see photo). On all our programs the progress of trainees is monitored and ends with an assessment of their skill level and knowledge.
Fiji Program in July
The Fiji 4-week program at the WGO Training Centre located at CWM Hospital and FNU in Suva will start on July 10. RACS has confirmed that our Fiji programs for the next three years will be supported as part of their Pacific Clinical Services and Health Workforce Improvement Program which receives Australian Government (DFAT) funding.
Preparation by the trainers and selection of trainees is well advanced. 10 doctor trainees and a similar number of nurses will attend from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Micronesia (FSM), Vanuatu and Tuvalu. A meeting of trainers will be held on June 2 to go over the program of activities and answer questions.
Rearranged Timor-Leste Program
Due to the unavailability of the HNGV Endoscopy Lead, Dr Celia Santos, in the planned week, the May training program has been delayed. There will now be one two-week program in October but with a different team in each week. Neither doctor trainer from May can attend and we are looking for at least one replacement. If you have an interest in Timor-Leste and might have a week available in October, please click here to email Robyn Nagel to discuss further.
Advice to New Hospital in Enga, Papua New Guinea
A new hospital in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea (pictured above), is due to open at the end of the year. After being introduced by DAISI, Dianne Jones and Kate Napthali have been advising Dr Elvis Japhlet, acting CEO of the local health authority, about the design of an endoscopy unit, equipment needs and operational processes. A visit to the site to finalise the design and assist further is being planned subject to overall project progress.
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: "Things You Shouldn't Swallow" DATE: Thursday, 29 June 2023 - last Thursday of each month
TIME: 7.00pm-8.00pm FIJI time (5pm AEST & 7pm NZST))
PLACE: Virtual Zoom Meetings hosted by Pacific Basin TRC in Hawaii
CASE LEADER: Dr AdamPomerleau MD FAACT FACEM, Director and Medical/Clinical Toxicologist, NZ National Poisons Centre & Research Assoc Prof, University of Otago
MODERATOR: Prof Michael Schultz, University of Otago, Dunedin NZ
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.
Good Reads
Here are some articles that caught our eye this month. If you have suggestions for the next newsletter, please let us know.
Recently, Eileen Natuzzi, our Joint Program Leader for Solomon Islands attended the 14th annual Pacific Heads of Health meeting. Here are her reflections on the meeting. Eileen is an Affiliate at the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies at Georgetown University in the US.
We may have previously referred to this paper "Development of an Endoscopy Training Partnership in a Developing Country" but it is worth another recommendation as a good read.
SPONSORSHIP SUPPORT
ANZGITA gratefully acknowledges the support of all our sponsors, donors and grant providers who have generously supported our work, including the continuing support of the RACS PCSHWIP program which receives DFAT funding. These industry providers have committed long-term substantial support: CR Kennedy, Whiteley, Boston Scientific,Cantel, CK Surgitech, Cook Medical, Olympus and Pentax. Click here to view all supporters.
