NZSA Overseas Aid

The Global Oximetry Project - Donate via Lifebox or the NZSA Lifebox Donation Appeal Form

The Global Oximetry Project, initiated under the WFSA and previously supported in its Vietnam project by NZSA, has now been restructured under an independent foundation, the Lifebox Foundation (www.lifebox.org/), with representative directors from WFSA and AAGBI. The ASA and NZSA are also supporting the project.

Support is needed to assist in providing a package of education, oximetry and the WHO Checklist to the 78 000 theatres worldwide that currently function without oximetry.

A state of the art ISO certified oximeter with key features including pulse trace, variable tone and appropriate alarms, and robust design operating with batteries and mains power as needed, has been sourced from Acare, and can be provided for US$250.

The aim is to achieve a sustainable improvement in the safety of anaesthesia and surgery in these low income areas of the world.  AAGBI is currently working to fully oximeterise Uganda. In the USA, the ASA has made Atul Gawande (Chair of the Lifebox Foundation Board) a keynote speaker and aims to launch a substantial campaign to support Lifebox at their annual conference this year. The ASA in Australia is leading a project under Dr Rob McDougall. Donations can be made through the Lifebox website www.lifebox.org.

Giving US$250 will fund an oximeter and dramatically improve safety in one operating room somewhere in the world. Lesser amounts are of course very welcome.

It may be that some hospitals in the Pacific would benefit from the Lifebox oximeters as well.  Anyone interested in volunteering for Lifebox work in the Pacific/Asia region could contact Dr Wayne Morriss and/or Alan Merry through the NZSA nzsa@anaesthesia.org.nz. The Society published information about the Lifebox project in the February 2011 and July 2011 issues of New Zealand Anaesthesia.

Rarotonga Hospital

The NZSA, as part of its wider role in anaesthesia education, and in its capacity as a registered charity, has made a commitment to assist as needed in the Pacific region.

Two members of the Executive Committee, Ted Hughes (whose family is from Atiu) and John Wilson from New Zealand Army aid work had forged links with Rarotonga Hospital, so Rarotonga seemed a logical place to start.  

And further, in the sense that charity begins at home, the Cooks has, since 1906, been firmly associated with New Zealand. Many New Zealanders holiday there, Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens, use New Zealand currency, are schooled in English using mainly a New Zealand curriculum, and many Cook Islanders live and train in New Zealand.

Aware of a present need, in June 2009 an NZSA team visited Rarotonga Hospital to investigate how the Society could help improve anaesthesia services. The team consisted of Ted Hughes, anaesthetist, Lyall Trethowen, anaesthetic technician, Ivan Batistich, biomedical engineer and Margaret Blakeley, engineer.  At a later date, Ted Hughes also visited hospitals at two of the outer islands, Atiu and Aitutaki, in addition to attending the Cook Islands Health Conference.  

The team produced a detailed report with recommendations of changes the hospital could make and ways that NZSA could help. Some of its suggestions have already been implemented by the hospital management. Assistance by the NZSA to date has taken a number of forms. An important one is the training of anaesthetic staff and providing cover for them. The hospital has a single anaesthetist and one anaesthetic technician who are permanently on call. Cover has enabled them to take much needed leave and to attend courses.

Members are encouraged to assist with this work (contact tedhug@gmail.com). The Cook Island Ministry of Health cannot pay a salary, but airfares may be paid and a per diem allowance can made to cover expenses. Some NZSA members working in the public sector may be able to claim the work as a sabbatical, or request special leave with pay. The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists may also be prepared to view it as a continuing medical education activity.

Other ways to assist include sourcing donations of machinery. Auckland City and Gillies Hospitals gifted several anaesthetic machines which were accepted by the NZSA for use in Rarotonga under our auspices. NZSA members have been filling up a container to be shipped to Rarotonga with equipment deemed surplus to requirements in New Zealand hospitals.

If you can help source an item, the most suitable equipment for an environment like the Cooks is not the latest electronic equipment but a previous generation of equipment which is much more robust and needs less maintenance. For example, a number of hospitals in New Zealand were found to have decommissioned pneumatic gas-driven machines held in storage after being retired from use.  

Probably the most important function of a mission such as this is establishing relationships between staff at Rarotonga Hospital and their counterparts in New Zealand. When NZSA members and supporters have been working there we have tried to facilitate this as much as possible. Recently when the Rarotonga Hospital management needed help with a plan to guide responses to the influenza pandemic, they sought advice from and were assisted by the NZSA. Clinical advice has also been sought on a number of occasions.

The report is available to NZSA members here.

NZSA Executive member, Dr Ted Hughes, adjusts monitoring for a critically-ill patient in HDU while Director of Clinical Services, Dr Zaw Aung, watches him.

NZSA Executive member Dr Ted Hughes places a subclavian CVP line in the ICU with assistance from  biomedical engineer, Ivan Batistich, watched by the Head Physician, Dr Zaw Aung  and Head Surgeon Dr Teariki Noovao.

Aitutaki Hospital has been built on the brow of a hill overlooking the lagoon. While the hospital may lack some of the latest in technological advances, it is hard to think of a more beautiful site anywhere in the world.

Samoan Tsunami

The tsunami which devastated coastal parts of Samoa in 2009 touched many New Zealanders. The New Zealand Ministry of Health sent surgical and medical teams to help out. Two members of the Executive Committee, first Alan Goodey then Ted Hughes, went to Samoa. Both acted as anaesthetist and chef-de-mission for the first 3 weeks of the New Zealand deployment. Alan Goodey has previously acted as anaesthetist for New Zealand surgical teams doing aid work in Samoa, and because he was so familiar with the requirements and situation there he was chosen by the New Zealand Ministry of Health to lead the first team in after the tsunami.

Executive Committee Response

NZSA will advertise locum positions free for members and will fully waive the cost of advertising on the NZSA website to fill any position vacated by New Zealand anaesthetists who volunteer to provide aid to regions, such as the Pacific.