2015巴布亞紐幾內亞行動醫療團心得 -雲基急診唐家沅醫師
2015巴布亞紐幾內亞行動醫療團心得
雲基急診 唐家沅醫師
I am happy to join our mobile medical mission this time to Papua New Guinea (PNG)， specifically to Lae City which is the second large city after Port Moresby (capital of the nation).
When I was invited to this team， I wondered where this country is located. After investigating with my son on a world map， we found it near Australia. I learned it is a very beautiful country with its unique flora and fauna like “Kumul” paradise bird (nation symbol)， Cuscus， Emu etc. It has a mountainous central back bone called “highlands” descending sharply to the coastal area just like our place Taiwan. This country has more then 800 dialect mutually incomprehensible but the officially languages are three: English， Pidgin and Hiri Motu.
We departed from Taichung International Airport on 17th of October via Hong Kong to Port Moresby. During our trip the weather was unstable， most of our team members suffered from motion sickness. After arriving at Port Moresby our Ambassador Chiu and his secretary Mr. Pan kindly went to airport to receive us. Ambassador Chiu briefed us the situation of PNG. He alerted us not to move alone and beware of our surrounds which scared us a little bit. We arrived to the hotel which is very comfort and provide delicious meal which encouraged our morale.
Next day we incorporated to our respective department for the mission. Immediately， we confirmed our suspicion just arrive to emergency department (ER). We encountered with gunshot， machete cutting wounds， bone fracture caused by domestic violence， major trauma due to motor vehicle accident mostly alcohol related. Those dimension of severity impressed me as ER physician. We passed our general round and next day the patient is not there anymore. I asked our resident is the patient went to ward. His respond was always: “I am sorry， the patient passed away this early morning”.
We saw life vanished without any diagnosis and treatment， not because our abilities were not good enough to help them or we made any mistakes， simply lack of resources such as instrument (CT， ultrasounds) to make correct diagnosis then proceed to treat them. The impotence and frustration I felt is so much worse for our medical staff who is working there everyday. My “wantok” (friend in Pidgin) Dr. Alex always told me “I know our resource is limited， we improvised but “mipela sa wok hat tru long ol sikman” (we do our best for our patients). Finally， I realized that is the spirit of Papua New Guinean， even there is tempest and raining in torrents outside， but they struggle and do their best to divert the boat to the harbor safely.