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Australia Sends a Team of Doctors to Chuuk State Hospital

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): June 9, 2009 - An Australian funded Laparoscopy team of one surgeon, one anesthetist and one nurse will be on hand at the Chuuk State Hospital conducting life-changing surgeries under the AusAID funded Tertiary Health Service to the Pacific Island Countries program or "PIP" for short. The team arrives today, June 9^th and will stay until June 20^th, 2009.

This Australian health initiative provides short term visits for a variety of medical specialties to 11 Pacific Island Countries. Medical specialties include cardiac surgery, ENT, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, psychiatry, urology, radiology, and a diabetes training program.

The team consists of Dr. Sydney Chung (surgeon), Dr. Harry Aigeeleng (anesthetist) and Nurse Mrs. Eunice Lam. They are all volunteers and will not be paid for their time. A parallel objective of the clinical component is capacity building, and to this end, a range of formal and informal training activities is also provided under the auspices of the Project.

Previous AusAID funded medical visits to the FSM included an Orthopedic team to Pohnpei (September 2007), an ENT team to Yap (October 2006), a Laparoscopic Surgery training visit to the Pohnpei State Hospital (April 2006), ENT visit to the Pohnpei and Chuuk State Hospitals (November 2005) and a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery visit to the Pohnpei and Chuuk State Hospitals (July 2005).