NZ Defence Force Performs Surgeries in Vanuatu

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MAJ Graham Sharpe, Anaesthetist, MAJ Burton King, Surgeon, and CVHS Janine Weils, Nurse, performing surgery at Lunganville Town Hospital, Vanuatu.

Media Release
9 May 2011
NZ Defence Force Performs Surgeries in Vanuatu

NZ Defence Force personnel in Vanuatu for the US-led Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise Pacific Partnership, have deployed the Forward Surgical Team (FST) to reduce the backlog of the local population requiring surgery.

The FST has completed approximately 25 surgeries in Luganville Hospital, assisting the resident locum Dr Fred Merchant, who welcomed the FST and Pacific Partnership to Vanuatu.

“The NZ FST is a professional team who are well trained, well equipped and are doing a great job. Being from the USA it’s also great to see some of my countrymen again,” he said.

The FST is land, sea and air transportable and is designed to provide immediate and emergency treatment to receive, triage, provide preoperative resuscitation, resuscitative surgery, post operative nursing care and prepare casualties for the next level of medical care.

It utilises the skills of a pool of Civilian Volunteer Health Specialists (CVHS) from within the public health sector of NZ and draws from the Ministry of Health pharmaceutical supplies.

Major Burton King is a General Surgeon from Wellington hospital currently deployed as part of the team, and said that everyone has been kept busy.

“We are seeing a full range of general surgery from lumps and bumps to hernias, infections and breast cancer. We have also conducted a number of emergency cases as well”

Recent natural disasters including the tsunami in Samoa, cyclones in the Cook Islands and Fiji, earthquakes in NZ and the combined earthquake and tsunami in Japan has reinforced the need for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to be prepared to provide immediate humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Within 24 hours of the 23 February earthquake in Christchurch, the FST was deployed to provide additional surgical assistance to the Christchurch hospital. Major King was also deployed to help in that response, and says that exercises such as Pacific Partnership are essential for the NZ Defence Force to remain prepared

“Pacific Partnership is a fantastic opportunity to exercise the FST, test their systems and procedures to ensure the team can rapidly mobilise and deploy to any country struck by a natural disaster and provide humanitarian aid.”

Pacific Partnership is a US-led humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) exercise carried out with partner nations throughout the Pacific. The exercise aims to increase interoperability and this year HMNZS CANTERBURY is serving as a primary platform delivering medical, dental, veterinary and engineering services.

New Zealand’s contribution to Pacific Partnership has focussed on the nations of Tonga and Vanuatu, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade supporting the development work with approximately $500,000 of funding from the New Zealand Aid Programme.

ENDS