Doctors and nurses from Launceston General Hospital have returned from Vanuatu, where they spent seven days performing operations and training local medical professionals.
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Orthopedic surgeon Dr John Batten said the team performed about 20 operations and saw about 60 patients in the nation's capital, Port Vila.
“The main reason to go, apart from helping with surgery, is to teach them a whole lot of new tricks and surgical techniques so that they actually have the capacity to function when we’re not there,” he said.
It was the team's sixth visit to Vanuatu. They adapted treatment methods and helped local medics apply them, taking into account problems that may be more apparent in Vanuatu than Tasmania, such as infection in a tropical climate.
“Their capacity is getting to a point where we’re making ourselves redundant, which is the whole aim – to build up enough capacity locally with their surgeons and their nursing staff and their techniques, so they can manage when we’re not there,” Dr Batten said.