Vector Issue 10 - 2009

I
was fortunate enough to spend a month of my Christmas
holidays in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The people of PNG have
the lowest health status in the Pacific region. Despite this, life
in PNG is full and the people embrace it with all their might.
I was welcomed with huge smiles and all around kindness. I was
often invited back into people’s homes to meet their families and
be shown their village life.
MEDICINE
and
MOSQUITOES
a medical student’s
month in papua new
guinea
www.ghn.amsa.org.au
One particular day in the town of
Goroka, I was invited to a Christmas
party by the surgical team. For Christmas
the staff often prepare a ‘mumu’, a
traditional way of cooking in PNG where
a whole pig or goat is killed, wrapped in
banana leaves and cooked in the ground
with hot rocks. For this Christmas party
they had decided that they would prepare
a pig for the mumu. So they brought the
pig to the hospital, where it waited on the
first floor balcony until they could kill it
and prepare the mumu. The pig, however,
had other ideas and was last seen
running frantically around the hospital
grounds followed closely by the entire
theatre staff, leaving an empty theatre
and a rather bewildered looking surgeon.
I was later informed that pigs are highly
valued in PNG and are a symbol of
wealth and social standing. In fact they
12 vector november 2009
are so important that women will often
breastfeed the piglets when they are born.
Now after they had caught the pig
and it was prepared for the mumu I sat
down with the theatre staff and surgical
team to enjoy the feast. However, this
was not for long as the surgical resident
and myself were called to emergency to
assess a patient. Having been in PNG for
over 3 weeks I was not easily shocked
by anything I saw, but this still did shock
me! On entering the ED I was directed
to a young man sitting on the edge of a
bed with three arrows protruding from
his body. He had been shot four times
in total; the first arrow was in the ninth
intercostal space on the left, the second
entered the superficial tissue on his right
flank, the third was embedded in his
groin and the fourth he had removed
himself from his right triceps. Despite
Words and Photos
Georgia Ritchie
Medical student
University of Sydney
the wounds, he sat perfectly still and
appeared not to be in any pain. Despite
much effort the radiographer at the hospital
could not be contacted that evening
so the young man had to wait until morning
for his X-rays and surgery to remove
the arrows. This meant he had to sleep
on his front with three arrows protruding
form his body! When he eventually went
to surgery, it was found that the arrow
entering the chest had passed through the
spleen, the duodenum and the transverse
colon. After 7 hours of surgery, the arrow
was removed, the spleen saved and the
puncture wounds to the bowls closed and
he was sent to the ward for recovery.
I have a story about each day I
spent in PNG. Whether it is about the
amazing people I met or the interesting
medical cases I saw, I was constantly
in awe of the country. Although
at times a hard place to comprehend,
I feel that I understood by the end
of my trip and fell in love with the
PNG, its culture and the people.