This month Docherty, an experienced GP with a special interest in obstetrics & gynecology, and Mason, an occupational first aid trainer and IT&T professional, will head to Western Province, PNG, for three and half months as volunteers with the medical aid organisation Australian Doctors International.
“We wanted to do something different and help others,” said Docherty, who first volunteered in PNG as a medical student in 1970 and later in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu with Mason. “I’m looking forward to all the fascinating things there that you never get to see in Australia. From a medical perspective it’ll be back to basics: no diagnostic tools, no antibiotics, no drugs.”
Docherty and Mason will be based in North Fly District, Western Province, where on average there’s just one doctor per 11,800 patients. Here diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and filariasis (elephantiasis) are commonplace, and leprosy a growing concern. The twosome will help train local health workers and conduct medical patrols to remote villages, most of which can only be reached by boat and arduous trekking through dense, wet jungle. They’ll experience customary beliefs about life and death, eat cassowary and lots of taro, and relinquish luxuries such as electricity and running water.
“We like remote rugged areas, lots of wilderness walks and boating, and working with local people,” said Mason, citing annual two week treks through Tasmania as proof of their physical preparedness.
As current members of Scouts Australia and St John Ambulance in NSW, voluntary work is central to their life, and both are long-time recipients of numerous community awards. In 2001 they set up a 30-bed field hospital for a Scout Jamboree in Cataract NSW, and they also regularly provide St. John Ambulance first aid and medical support at major events including the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics Games, Big Day Out, and City to Surf.
In 2001 the adventurous couple carried out volunteer work at the Atoifi Adventist Hospital in East Malaita Province, Solomon Islands. In 2005 and 2006 they volunteered their medical skills to communities in Vanuatu. All this in between regular work in general practice and public hospitals for Docherty – “I like the flexibility” and IT&T management roles for Mason.
“As with PNG, the people in the remote areas of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu do not have any nearby medical services and they are too poor to travel the long distances to seek help. They accept a lower standard of health because they don’t realise that their medical conditions are not normal,” said Docherty, recounting a time in Vanuatu when a woman who had recently given birth casually approached her for “some medicine” to fix a severely prolapsed uterus.
“A part of our job is also to identify and communicate the need,” said Mason, recounting another time in Vanuatu when they flagged the need to iodise salt to help locals overcome iodine deficiencies and related health problems. “If the problem is never communicated then it can never be fixed.”
Docherty and Mason’s adventurous – if not somewhat daunting! – volunteer assignment in PNG with Australian Doctors International kicks off on Monday September 7. They will return to Sydney in time to spend Christmas with their families.
ENDS
About ADI: Australian Doctors International (ADI) is a not-for-profit development aid organisation working to improve the health of people living in remote communities of Papua New Guinea. ADI currently operates in Western Province, PNG where it deploys volunteer doctors, delivers public health programs to fight malaria and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), and provides education and training for local health workers. ADI is run by volunteers and relies on private sponsors to fund its programs. www.adi.org.au
Media: Leah Boonthanom (0411) 860-741 or www.adi.org.au
