The huge Mater Dei Hospital

Having gotten my feet wet in the small rural hospital of Santo, Vanuatu it was time to turn to the opposite end of the spectrum. Mater Dei is a huge 900 bed Hospital located in the main city of Malta, Msida. I applied here because I wanted to contrast what I was seeing in my two rural hospital placements and see a large range of patient presentations in the time I had available. And what an experience it was!

A further two beds in the delivery suite

Oh and Gee, are perhaps the politer words to describe what I was often thinking during my rotation in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at NDH. The staff are extremely hardworking and do their best with the resources available, but it was a far cry from services available in New Zealand. › Continue reading…

The entrance to the Emergency Department

Arriving on the beautiful island of Santo Espiritu in Northern Vanuatu I was ready to hit the ground running and submerge myself in my first elective placement. I could already tell by the flight over the island that I was in for an interesting month here. The buildings were mostly concrete block with tin or palm roofs and the main centre of Luganville was tiny (even by New Zealand standards). The main industries on the island seem to be farming, fishing and tourism with the former two grinding to a halt for the latter when the cruise ships arrive in port.

Somewhere deep in these woods are the patients we needed to locate and save

The pinnacle of my entire elective and possibly all of medical school for me was being the medical and transport director of a simulated mass casualty incident. This occurred on the last night of the wilderness first responder course during my wilderness medical elective. I really enjoy taking on leadership positions and this really pushed me to my limits.