Equipment donated to Vanuatu hospital

14/12/2022

Patients in a Vanuatu hospital are benefiting from equipment no longer used by Rotorua Hospital.

The donation of a retired gastroscope was made possible through the Rotorua Hospital Day Stay Unit and Olympus Medical, the supplier of the equipment.

The scope was one that was no longer able to be used at Rotorua Hospital but was still safe to use.

Chrissy Rees, who is the Day Stay Unit Endoscopy Lead Nurse, said it was hugely satisfying to be able to help other patients in this way.

“We think ourselves lucky that we have access to equipment to meet our patients’ needs. It must be awful knowing someone needs a procedure but not have the equipment to do it.

“We have to make sure that all of our equipment is compatible with other equipment.

"Some don’t get a lot of use but they get to an age where they’re no longer compatible or there’s a tiny fault but still safe to use.

“We were changing a whole system over and we had a couple of scopes and processors that would be obsolete here. It was an ideal package to benefit someone else.”

Chrissy approached the scope supplier, Olympus, who put her in touch with Tauranga Hospital gastroenterologist Dr Adrian Claydon. He volunteers at Vila Central Hospital.

He advised the scopes were received in Vanuatu in January but sat in a ward office until August when he arrived.

“They weren’t confident to put it together," he wrote to Chrissy.

"I was over there for 10 days, and managed to get it set up. Finally, on my last day I was able to get it working and train their physician with it on a couple of patients.

“It was a real step up from the old equipment they had. The picture clarity, and functionality of the scopes were great.

“We really appreciate the donation.

“Vanuatu is an incredibly poor country. They will make great use of the scopes.

“They are a pleasure to work with, and little things make a really big difference there.”

Donations of scopes and other used medical equipment can be facilitated through the Australia and New Zealand Gastroenterologist International Training Association (ANZGTIA), which supports doctors and nurses in developing Indo-Pacific countries.

Learn more about ANZGTIA here.