A LONGstanding partnership between the Rotary Club and non-profit organisation Interplast has culminated into a series of annual surgeries offered to Fijians by specialists from Australia and New Zealand.
Continuing with the practice, a group of surgeons and specialists were in the country this month to look into cases requiring urgent care.
Among them was Robert Buckland, an anaesthetist from Australia, who says the trip marked his fifth to Fiji with Interplast.
“We have a team of seven people here to do some operations on the local Fijians and these are plastic surgical operations so dealing with cleft lip and palate surgery, also some burns surgeries,” he says.
“This is my fifth time in Lautoka with Interplast and my 10th trip overall and our team this year consists of two plastic surgeons from Wellington and two nurses, another anaesthetist and a member of Rotary.”
According to Mr Buckland, the partnership between Interplast and Rotary started in Australia more than 30 years ago.
“Interplast was founded by one plastic surgeon and Rotary groups can contribute funding to these trips organised through Interplast and they provide a significant amount of funding through the trips.
“This trip has been very good. We have done some complex surgeries which have taken a large amount of time, particularly some burns injuries, also some congenital hand injuries have taken quite a while.
“What I notice each year is that the medical staff in Fiji are very committed and very welcoming.”
During this trip, Mr Buckland says they had tended to an estimated 30 to 35 cases.
Since the group started coming to Fiji, he says they had probably looked at about 1000 plus cases.
“There is a lot of planning involved our Interplast group gets in touch with the hospital or vice versa. There’s advertising and nurses also send out word to people they know of to come and visit us.
“I hope to return with Interplast and also return for a holiday so that’s what I have to organise because I understand the islands and some other parts are very beautiful.”
The team hasn’t just been attending to cases though. Surgeon Dr Craig MacKinnon says they have also taken this opportunity to impart their knowledge and skills to local medical personnel.
“We’ve been in Suva two times now for teaching Fijians and training surgeons,” he said.
“Interplast, in conjunction with the universities and the Ministry of Health, has set up a teaching program on plastic surgery for the master of surgery students who are training specialists in Fiji.
“It runs for a week and is part of their course. Plastic surgeons come over from New Zealand and Australia for this.”
