Report to Interplast on East Kalimantan program May 2012
Interplast trip to EK 2012
2012 Interplast team to East Kalimantan, with patients, hospital staff and contractors
1. 105 patients were seen at the Outpatients session
2. 72 were operated upon
3. An outbreak of Chicken pox reduced the numbers of fit patients
4. One patient was found to have a pulsating nasopharyngeal encephalocele which has been referred urgently.
5. A new major hospital (8 floors) is being built alongside the original hospital. It should be finished and ready to be used in December 2012!
6. The hospital theatres had a major infusion of funds, with new operating tables (complete with electronic controls), new anaesthetic machines, new vital signs monitors etc.
7. Their purchase of a new FOBI intubating scope has made my new Ambu A-scope with four single use stylets superfluous. I would like to donate that to Interplast so that it can be offered to other teams that might run into difficult intubations,
8. The Recovery Ward still is understaffed, and does not have a culture of personal responsibility of care for each patient. Perhaps Interplast could support a program run from Surabaya which would develop the perioperative suite.
9. There is a distinct possibility that Dr Djohan Wirawan would leave Balikpapan later this year and return to Surabaya.
10. The new hospital at Sangatta is not yet completed. The CEO of KPC Foundation Pak Andean advised against a visit this year, and suggested that we could make a reconnaissance visit there in 2013
11. Dr Robert Ray (yet another Ballarat Anaesthetist) replaced Dr Michael Shaw this year.
12. A video of the program was screened on National TV in Jakarta (http://youtu.be/NnQfD3yHIF4).
13. The entire team is enthusiastic to come next year.
14. Dr Ray and I are both enthusiastic to have the anaesthetic registrars experience Australian anaesthetic conditions. We would be pleased to nominate them for support to attend the Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Units of Ballarat Health Services.