HealthServe Australia News

HealthServe Australia (HSA) is most encouraged in its partnership with the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Australia (CMDFA). It has sponsored IMPACT and the National Conference and has also set up the capacity for CMDFA to gain RACGP points for CMDFA educational activities.

In 2018, HSA sponsored 14 International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA) country representatives, mostly from Papua New Guinea and Africa, to the ICMDA World Congress in Hyderabad, India. Last year, we brought two student leaders from Singapore and one from Indonesia to VISION in January on the Gold Coast. We also brought a PNG doctor, Naomi Philips, to the National CMDFA conference in October in Canberra.

HSA have set up a Partnerships in Medical Education (PRIME) programme with CMF partners in Indonesia and have seen training take place in Bandung and Jakarta. We have taught on Whole Person Medicine and Jesus as the Good Teacher. This year, we will also teach in Jogjakarta and, prayerfully, there will be palliative care workshops in various Indonesian sites.

Our greatest joy is to see the printing of the Papua New Guinea Health Care Manual for village health workers. This has been a long and valued journey over many years led by Baptist Union PNG in partnership with HealthServe Australia and others. A special thanks goes to the Department of Foreign affairs for support through an Australian Friendship Grant. This assisted with printing and distribution. I wanted to especially acknowledge the leadership, both present (by Dr John Oakley and Gerri Koelma), and past (with programme leadership by Dr Clifford Smith).

Finally, HeartStart is an award of HSA for health-worker students in Australia to seed-fund travel to a developing country to immerse themselves in a safe, resourcepoor setting, develop relationships, and gather information. From this, they may be able to develop a Concept Paper for a project that may transform health outcomes for the host beneficiary group. The Award is from $500 to $1000.

For further details see http://www.healthserve.org.au/projectsof-health-serve-australia/144-projects/81- heartstart.html

Dr Michael Burke