History of surgery at Tari Hospital
- Author:
W. Pakalu
1
;
D. A. K. Watters
1
Author Information
1. Barwon Health, University Hospital Geelong, Australia
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:
Papua New Guinea medical journal
2015;58(1-4):36-45
- CountryPapua New Guinea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
The Southern Highlands were first discovered and explored by Europeans in the 1930s.
The first patrols led by Lloyd Yelland, a medical assistant, assessed the health of the
population in the early 1950s. Thereafter, Tari Hospital was built in 1954 and first staffed
by medical assistants. The first medical officer, Roger Rodrigue, was not stationed there
until 1959. He performed minor operations with local or general anaesthetic using ether.
The first surgeon to operate there – Bill Ramsey (1967-1968) – did so under the auspices
of the Leprosy Mission. The first nurse was Judith Wilson posted in 1970. By 1972, the
hospital had 100 inpatients, saw 50 outpatients a day and had a staff complement of
9 trained nurses and a matron. A research station was set up in the Tari Basin, which
eventually came under the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR)
in Goroka. In the 1970s Ian Riley (later a Professor of Public Health) and his wife, an
anaesthetist, were based in Tari, studying pneumonia and pneumococcal vaccines, and
managed emergency cases including trauma and caesarean sections. Stephen Flew,
now a general practitioner in Northern Victoria, was superintendent of the hospital
from 1989 to 1993, whilst Tim Dyke FRCS Edin was based at the PNGIMR in Tari. They
offered a significant surgical service, again largely based on emergency presentations.
Their tenure resulted in a number of publications and conference presentations on
surgical topics, largely related to trauma. After Dyke, the hospital had no surgeon until
2007, largely due to political reasons. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were invited to
provide surgical services in 2009, and even in 2013 there was still no government-funded
surgeon at Tari Hospital. The MSF surgical audit data in 2010-2011 showed that more than
90% of surgical cases seen at Tari Hospital required emergency surgery, most of which
resulted from trauma. More than half of the trauma procedures were classified as major.
