Hearing Aid

VANUATU: A team of Australian surgeons and nurses regularly travels around the Pacific treating a range of medical conditions, including hearing loss.

Man examining woman's ear For ear, nose and throat surgeon Perry Burstin it's a dream fulfilled. 'For the five years I've been coming to Vanuatu I've wanted to run a specialised ear, nose and throat training course for the excellent nurses here. This is the first training course of its kind in the Pacific.'

In training: Ear, nose and throat nurses try out the equipment from their specialist medical kits.

Dr Burstin is one of a group of doctors, funded by AusAID through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, who travels regularly around the Pacific. He and his colleagues attend to people with conditions that would otherwise go untreated. Medical services in most Pacific nations just aren't there, primarily because health budgets don't stretch very far. Surgeons like Perry Burstin not only perform operations and procedures, they stay on to teach local medical staff.

A surgical team recently in Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, was treating people with all sorts of health conditions but, in particular, those with hearing problems. Over a week or so, doctors saw more than 100 patients and conducted several operations.

They also made time to train 12 nurses who found the experience of learning from experts invaluable.

The Australian doctors are confident they leave behind a competent group of health professionals. The nurses are proficient in diagnosing hearing loss, running audiology clinics and fitting hearing aids. And to make sure they're well equipped, the surgeons have donated an ear, nose and throat specialist medical kit to each island. These kits help the nurses identify priority patients, provide preventive care and ensure ear infections, especially in schoolchildren, are treated promptly.

Nurse Andorine Aki is thrilled. 'These kits have everything we need for our clinics on the islands. We are taking them to rural areas so we can care for more patients.'

Australia has for several years funded medical teams from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to travel to the Pacific to treat people in need and to pass on surgical skills.

For further information see http://www.surgeons.org [external website]

2006