What is the key role of RACS
Global Health?
What are the tertiary health services
covered?
What kind of involvement is expected from those
interested in participating in the projects?
What qualifications are required to participate in
the projects?
How are the projects funded?
In which countries do the projects
operate?
Are there security issues?
How do I apply to participate in project
activities?
How do I make a complaint?
What is the key role of RACS Global Health?
RACS Global Health is involved in
a wide range of initiatives to deliver tertiary health services and
develop surgical capacity in Asia and the Pacific. Since 1994, the
program has worked with the Australian Government's overseas aid
program to deliver specialist surgical services and training to
Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
What are the tertiary health services
covered?
The types of tertiary health services
delivered largely depends on the needs identified in each country.
At the beginning of each project, a scoping visit is undertaken by
a surgeon from the College, who makes a recommendation to the
funding agency and to the recipient government of the medical needs
in-country and what procedures can be undertaken safely given the
local facilities, both in terms of physical facilities at the
hospital and the available post operative care.
Across the current projects, the
specialties are:
- Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
- Ophthalmology
- Cardiac Surgery
- Gynaecology
- Oral Maxillofacial
- Neurosurgery
- Orthopaedics
- Paediatric Surgery
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- Urology
- Radiology.
In the Pacific Island Countries,
diabetes management and psychiatry are included.
What kind of involvement is expected
from those interested in participating in the projects?
Short-term specialist
visits
Short-term specialist visits are of 1 to 2 weeks' duration and
cover the range of specialities listed above.
Team composition and size vary across visits and are largely
determined by the type of visit and requirements of the ministries
of health in each country.
Generally teams include surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre
nurses, who volunteer their time and skills to deliver much needed
surgical care in the host country. In addition, the visiting
specialist teams play a large role in building local surgical
capacity by mentoring surgical trainees and other local medical
personnel through on the job training.
All visiting teams are self-sufficient in that the projects
provide them with equipment and medical supplies to be used for
treating patients and training medical staff in-country.
Long-term medical specialists
In some countries, in addition to the short-term specialist
visits, there is a need to provide medical specialist(s) for the
local hospital to ensure a 24-hour emergency service is
available.
For example in Timor Leste, the program was requested to provide
full-time general surgery, anaesthetic and perioperative nursing
support services at the National Hospital in Dili. Occasionally,
there are similar requests from Nauru and from the Solomon
Islands.
What qualifications are required to
participate in the projects?
Project participants are medical
personnel who are qualified to practice in Australia and New
Zealand. Each project has a specialty coordinator (by
specialisation) and a project director who make the assessment of
the appropriate qualification and suitability of the project
participant(s).
How are the projects funded?
In most projects, the major source of
funds is the Australian Government through its overseas aid
program. The Australian Government's overseas aid program provides
funds over a specified period of time.
On a case by case basis, the College is able to tap other funding
sources or donor organisations to
supplement Australian Government funds. For example,
in Papua New Guinea, while the
Australian Government provides the major source of
assistance, the College solicits donations from the private sector
for medical supplies to assist the local hospitals.
Projects funds are used to cover medical disposables, economy
class airfares, accommodation in-country, per diems and reasonable
travel-related expenses of visiting specialist teams. All team
members participate as volunteers. In the case of the long-term
positions, project funds are used to cover economy class airfares
and reasonable consultancy fees.
RACS Global Health welcomes donations to extend the range
of aid activities undertaken in the Asia Pacific region.
In which countries do the projects
operate?
The College has four current projects
involving tertiary health services and/or training and education
initiatives:
- Pacific Islands Project (PIP)
- The specialist teams visit the main capital and some outer
islands in 10 Pacific Islands countries: Cook Islands, Federated
States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon
Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
- Timor Leste
Project (ATLASS) - The full-time surgeon and anaesthetist are
based at Dili National Hospital and conduct outreach visits to the
major regional hospitals as required. The specialist teams visit
the capital, Dili, as well as the referral hospitals in Baucau,
Maliana, Oecussi and Suai.
- Myanmar
Program - Visiting medical specialists conduct skills cources
including primary trauma care and emergency medicine training
primarily in Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Daw.
- Nusa
Tenggara Timur (Indonesia) - The specialist teams conduct
biannual opthalmology and optometry clinics in Waikabubak, the main
town in West Sumba, Nusa Tenggara Timur.
Are there security issues?
In-country project participants can
liaise directly with the Australian Government post
located in the Australian High Commission in the event of a
security incident. RACS also has an emergency evacuation plan in
place for all projects and travel advice is available from the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website.
How do I apply to participate in
project activities?
If you are interested in volunteering
with any of the RACS Global Health projects, please send an email
to global.health@surgeons.org.
How do I make a
complaint?
Complaints about RACS Global Health's
performance in relation to the Australian Council for International
Development's Code of Conduct can be made directly to RACS Global
Health using the website feedback
form or to ACFID. Any compaints will be handled in line
with the Handling Complaints to the
International Development Program Policy.