Australians training a new generation of Cambodian medics

Imogen Brennan reported this story on Monday, October 13, 2014

Listen to the program here.

ELEANOR HALL: A group of Australian medics is preparing to fly to Cambodia this weekend to treat children in desperate need of heart surgery.

On this trip, the doctors from Open Heart International say they're hoping that for the first time, the local doctors they've trained will be able to perform the surgeries unassisted.

Imogen Brennan has the story.

IMOGEN BRENNAN: Since 2007, Open Heart International has been sending teams of willing Australian medicos to Cambodia.

They've treated dozens of children born with potentially fatal heart problems, and they've been passing on all they know to the young Cambodian doctors working alongside them.

MICHAEL WERE: So fingers crossed, this is going to be one of the first times that we're going to put our tools down and walk out of the operating theatre, and what I mean by that is we've worked with the local Cambodian surgeons over a number of trips around a specific type of operation.

So we're really optimistic that this is going to be the first time they're going to be able to do that operation by themselves.

IMOGEN BRENNAN: Michael Were is from Open Heart International. On Saturday, they'll fly a team of about 25 medics from Australia to Siem Reap.

No-one in the team gets paid for this work. From paediatric cardiologists to intensive care nurses, they all volunteer to be there.

MICHAEL WERE: One of the really big things to remember about Cambodia is to remember the issues of the Khmer Rouge of the early 1980s, which basically wiped out the majority if not nearly all of the educated class.

So from a medical perspective, so many of the doctors and the expertise in medicine in that country simply disappeared.

So 30 years later and only one generation later, that can't be rebuilt overnight. So it's still a country that's got incredible development and things have moved a long way, but still so much work to do about training doctors.

IMOGEN BRENNAN: What is the situation in Cambodia at the moment for people who are suffering cardiac issues?

MICHAEL WERE: I think there's probably two issues. Generally across the population there's not a great understanding of health and some of the issues associated with a population that's very remote and rural, and travelling into cities is financially difficult sometimes.

Getting access to health care is a big issue. We know that there's about 3,000-odd people that need cardiac surgery, but with that number we know that there's probably a lot more that is yet to be diagnosed. So it's a massive issue.

IMOGEN BRENNAN: It costs about $3,500 to treat each heart patient. Michael Were says that's a small price for the life it gives. 

MICHAEL WERE: Our volunteers come from all over Australia. These people give of their own time and expertise, and this is the kind of things that they do in their spare time.

So it's an amazing reflection on the passion and humanity of our medical professionals in Australia.

ELEANOR HALL: Indeed. Michael Were from Open Heart International ending Imogen Brennan's report.