(Above Left): Clayton Dalano – Operating Theatres Nurse Manager at Gizo Hospital responsible for coordinating patient flow during the surgical visit in January 2017
Gizo hospital in the Western Province of Solomon Islands will be open for urgent surgery from Monday 16th January until Friday 27th January 2017 to try to help deal with the extra burden placed on surgeons in the Solomon Islands with the recent unexpected leave of two surgeons.
A team of 8 surgeons and four anaesthetists from Australia and one Solomon Islands surgical trainee Dr Michael Buin will screen patients and operate from Monday 16th until Friday 27th January 2017.
Volunteering surgeons include those with expertise in general, plastics, burns, colorectal, breast, thyroid and ENT surgery. Suitable cases include burns & tendon injury, hernias, lumps, tumours, bowel cancer, thyroid goitre, head and neck or parotid tumours, anal conditions (haemorrhoids, fissure etc) gallbladder and throat conditions. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy is also available to anyone with GI bleeding or anaemia. Laparoscopic key-hole surgery is also being introduced to aid the diagnosis of vague abdominal complaints and allow for the removal of gallbladder to be performed through small incisions allowing quicker recovery.
The service is free of charge and is a combined initiative of the Solomon Islands Ministry for Health and the not-for-profit organisation “Doctors Assisting In Solomon Islands” (DAISI). Dr Rooney Jagilly (Medical Superintendent at National Referral Hospital) and Ministry for Health Under Secretary Dr Greg Jilini have both been pivotal in planning and organising these visits. This represents one of thirteen such visits by DAISI volunteers scheduled for next year involving over 50 volunteer doctors.
A particular emphasis during these surgical visits is the training of surgical trainees from the Solomon Islands such as Dr Michael Buin (pictured in above photo fourth from the left)
If you are someone with a surgical condition needing surgery, we suggest you present for assessment to Gizo hospital at 8am on Monday 16th January 2017. We recommend you present fasted so that if necessary immediate surgery can be offered. Screening will also continue to occur week days each morning from 8am until 9am between 16th-27th January 2017.
Author: Dr Sepehr Lajevardi is a plastics surgical registrar from Royal Perth Hospital and elected Treasurer of DAISI. Dr Sepehr will be volunteering his services during January 2017 along with 8 other specialist surgeons.
