I spent my last week at Kanti with one of three surgical teams. The week started with outpatient clinic. This is a rather chaotic morning where the doctors sit at one long desk and the patients all pile into the room and queue to be seen. Once again, there is no such thing as patient confidentiality. Everyone peers over each other’s shoulders as each child is undressed and examined right there at the consult desk. However this is the norm in Nepal and even if I am slightly taken aback by this approach the patients and families (and doctors) are not at all worried, as this is how it has always been. I guess one benefit is that numerous people are educated at once, as a result of discussing a condition with one patient while everyone else listens in! › Continue reading…

There have been many firsts for me on this trip. One noticeable first was that I wasn’t in New Zealand for ANZAC Day this year. Usually I would be up out of bed in the dark, wrapped up in my puffer jacket at the chilly Dawn Service in Dunedin or Christchurch. This year found me at the Australian Embassy here in Kathmandu wearing short sleeves, a skirt and sandals in the blazing sun. There was a great turn out for the commemoration although I was one of only a handful of kiwis. › Continue reading…

Namaste!! I made it here to Nepal safe and sound despite the fact my body clock was a little out of whack after so many hours of flying! Boy oh boy what a culture shock it was to arrive in Kathmandu! I don’t think I could have picked two more opposite places to go to for my elective. After the quiet, isolated and laid-back life in the Falklands the hustle and bustle of the capital of Nepal was rather overwhelming! › Continue reading…

My time here in Stanley is drawing to a close. The last six weeks have easily been some of the most memorable experiences of my life so far. I feel I have been utterly immersed in rural medicine right from the start, and boy have I loved it. During my stay here I have been able to dabble in General Practice, General Medicine, Emergency and Trauma Medicine, General Surgery and Anaesthesia with the resident doctors, Dermatology, Paediatrics and Orthopaedics with visiting specialists and even a bit of Dentistry thrown in for good measure. I think I learnt more about oral medicine in the two hours I was with the dentist than in the last five years of my degree!! › Continue reading…

One of the great things about rural general practice is the places you travel to, to see your patients. I got to experience the Falklands version of this recently. › Continue reading…

One question every doctor will have been asked numerous times throughout their training and career is “why did you want to become a doctor?” For the first time I asked myself this question the other day after talking to a young soldier, sitting in the ED waiting area watching the news as the New York apartment explosions unfolded.

I stopped to see what was happening on my way past. As we chatted about what we thought was the cause of the explosions was we posed the question of what we would do if we found ourselves in a situation like that. I said that I would like to think I would be able to help out in someway – help get people out or assist medically. He said in response, “I don’t know what I would do, my job is to kill people not save them.” › Continue reading…

When planning my elective I wanted to go somewhere that would really immerse me in rural health. During my research into various hospitals around the world I came across the Falkland Islands. I don’t think you can get much more rural than this place! › Continue reading…

The last day of my elective has come around all too quickly. By way of Heathrow, Singapore and Christchurch, in 36 hours I will be back in Invercargill ready to start the final nine months of my medical degree. I’m not usually an anxious flyer, but I recently watched a documentary on how Gibraltar is the fifth “most extreme” airport in the world, largely due to the wind conditions and the four-lane road crossing the runway. To my relief, the wind has restricted itself to a gentle breeze, which amidst blue skies and puffy clouds provides the perfect conclusion to my time in Gibraltar. › Continue reading…

While a waterfront location for a hospital must be rare, I think the location of St Bernard’s Hospital is unique. Towards the east, across the bay of Gibraltar lies Spain, while towards the south, across the strait of Gibraltar lies the African continent. On a clear day you can even see villages in Morocco.

Aside from marvelling about the hospital’s location, over the last two weeks I spent time in Orthopaedics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Both were important subjects for me to test my knowledge in as my exposure was limited to the GP clinic and the occasional consultant visiting Balclutha during the year I spent there as an RMIP student. › Continue reading…

Everything I had read about this border crossing had made it sound difficult. Always an uneasy relationship, tensions between Spain and Gibraltar had been escalating in the last 12 months, prompting a Gibraltarian MP to say that they were “one shot away from military conflict”. › Continue reading…