Interplast team in Hagen

By GIBSON TORASO
UPNG Journalism student
THE interplast volunteer team specialising in plastic surgery are in Mount Hagen helping hundreds of people with deformations.
They will be in the province for two weeks. Since they arrived last week they have treated more than 70 patients from the Highlands region.
Team leader Saimon Donahoe, while thanking the Mt Hagen Provincial Hospital staff, said the team was trying to focus on ill children.
He said out of the 212 patients – 49 more than last year – the team had already operated on 73, mostly children.
“Our focus on children was because they have a long time and will spend more years to get benefit,” Donahoe said.
He said the country’s health system faced a shortage of doctors and urged the government to train more local surgeons and doctors to meet the growing population.
The team leaves this weekend and their return to the  country would depend on the availability of funding.
He thanked the government, Rotarians, health department and the government of Australia for making their visit successful.
Patients who underwent surgery thanked the team for  assisting them.
Jacob Robie, whose right hand was paralysed after it got burnt, was grateful for the treatment and hoped to  recover soon.