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Professor of Surgery Noel Tait who will spend the next three weeks ab... |
UOW professor takes surgical skills to Sumatra to help earthquake victims
The University of Wollongong’s Professor of Surgery Noel Tait isn’t sure what to expect when he arrives in the devastated earthquake zone of Sumatra on Sunday night, but he knows he’s facing a massive challenge.
Professor Tait will be aboard HMAS Kanimbla as part of Operation Padang Assist - Australia’s humanitarian response to the earthquake tragedy centre around the town of Padang. The ship is due to leave Darwin on Saturday (October 10) arriving off Padang late on Sunday night.
Professor Tait, a specialist surgeon at Wollongong Hospital and Professor of Surgery at UOW’s Graduate School of Medicine, is a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve and a member of the Navy’s Primary Care Reception Facility (PCRF) on the ship.
The PCRF team includes Professor Tait and an orthopaedic surgeon, two anaesthetists and a team of nurses while the ship is equipped with two operating theatres, 40 hospital beds including intensive care facilities and a high dependency unit as well as a well-equipped pharmacy.
The earthquake which hit western Sumatra in Indonesia on 30 September left a death toll of more than 600 people and destroyed thousands of buildings.
“The earthquake has left Padang without no hospital, no surgeons and no fresh water,” Professor Tait said. “So we’ll basically be providing a portable and hygienic hospital for the area, with patients ferried out to the ship on barges.
“We’ll be providing surgical treatment and hospital care for earthquake victims as well as other medical emergencies. I’m not sure what to expect, but it will be very varied - anything from major burns to fractures and other injuries from the earthquake.”
Professor Tait said he expected to be in Sumatra for two to three weeks. It is his first deployment with the Navy Reserve, which he joined earlier this year.
He said he considered it a privilege to be able to use his surgical skills to help people in great need.