Top surgery skills honed

By Emma Sun
THE upskilling of Fiji’s first paediatric surgeon at Casey Hospital will be a welcome change for the small country.
Jitoko Cama is re-training and refreshing his medical skills in Australia for two months, under the supervision of Casey Hospital’s head of paediatric surgery, Robert Stunden.
A surgeon from the hospital is in Fiji to run Dr Cama’s practice while he trains.
Dr Cama said being the only paediatrician in his home country was difficult, and the time he spent in Australia would help him do better in his profession.
“It is a lot of responsibility because people look up to you,” he said.
“With the current training and upskilling, I’m more confident in some of the things I haven’t done.”
Prior to Dr Cama, Fiji didn’t have any paediatricians and would have a foreign paediatric surgeon visit two to three times a year for a couple of weeks to operate on complex cases.
When he returns to Fiji, Dr Cama will continue to run his practice and help train Fiji’s future doctors.
“We currently have 17 postgraduates and we are trying to encourage at least two or three of them to become paediatric surgeons,” he said.
Mr Stunden said the hospital was keen to create ongoing support for doctors in developing countries, having also had a hand in training the first Papua New Guinean paediatric surgeon three years ago.
They will be hosting a paediatric surgeon from Cambodia in October, which will be beneficial to the country following the massacre of doctors and nurses during the genocide in the ’70s.
“It is very unfortunate, as he has never seen anyone senior operate before, so it will be of great benefit for him to acquire the skills that he can’t learn by the books, and there will be a lot of instruments and technologies that we can introduce him to,” Mr Stunden said.
“We are looking at possibly making a regular exchange program with Cambodia if it goes well.”