Pacifica Medical Association holds conference in Vanuatu

The Pacifica Medical Association is hosting this week its 18th annual Pacifica Medical conference in Port Vila. The conference will be held at the same time as the first Vanuatu Medical and Dental Association conference and with the College of Psychiatrists in Australia.

The three organizations are putting together this Annual Scientific Conference over three days beginning Wednesday September 30 to Friday, October 2.

The conference will be preceded today Monday by the Pacifica Study Group for a select few people only and on Tuesday at the Warwick Le Lagon Resort they open the Pacifica Medical Conference with a Disaster Day, General Surgeon at the Vila Central Hospital, Dr. Basil Leodoro says.

“That’s going to be a very interesting day when we will discuss lessons that we’ve learned from Cyclone Pam in terms of hospital preparedness and also national preparedness. It will also have members sharing their experiences during Cyclone Pam,” Dr. Leodoro tells Kizzy Kalsakau of 96 BuzzFM radio.

“All those doctors and nurses who worked during that time and also we have presenters coming in from all around the Pacific – Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia who will be talking to us about their experiences in disasters situations,” he adds.

Then the Pacifica Medical Association and VMDA conference starts properly on Wednesday and will be opened by the Head of State, President Baldwin Lonsdale.

Dr. Leodoro says they have some very interesting presentations from Vanuatu for the conference aside from discussions on clinical workforce development. These include one paper on tuberculosis from one of their TB officers and another on traditional medicine practices in Vanuatu.

“This paper will look at how traditional medicine ties in with Western medicine and the challenges we face in Vanuatu particularly with traditional medicine delaying patients from coming to the hospitals.

“But also how traditional medicine is playing an important role in terms of cancer where Western medicine has reached its limits and patients are turning to prayer and traditional medicine.

“So, it’s going to be an interesting paper on traditional medicine practices in Vanuatu.”

The other thing that they are going to present on that day is their experiences with Cyclone Pam and also a presentation on mental health in Vanuatu. Vanuatu currently has a young doctor, Dr. Jimmy Obed, who is spearheading the mental health programs around Vanuatu.

Additionally, the Ministry of Health has teamed up with Israeli Aid and together they run workshops around the country empowering the people — leaders in the communities, police, chiefs and pastors to be able to recognize mental illness and to be able to refer these patients to specialists in Port Vila and in Santo, Dr. Leodoro says.

“Quite a number of these presenters are going to be our own ni-Vanuatu specialists and doctors and nurses who will be discussing issues that are affecting Vanuatu today,” he adds.

The theme of the conference is ‘Culture, Community and Healing’ and Dr. Leodoro says its aim is to look at culture and the part that it plays in medicine and health.

“We have ignored culture as an important part of a patient’s care, not only when they are ill but also when they are well. And that’s some of the things that we will be addressing — looking at culture, looking at beliefs of a patients, looking at why they choose traditional medicine over western medicine, looking at family and community support for patients.”