Monash IVF were delighted to donate one of their perfectly maintained ten year old ultrasound machines to Port Moresby Hospital, Papua New Guinea.
 
So, how do we get an ultrasound machine from Monash IVF to Port Moresby General Hospital? Laurie Fisher at Footscray Rotary DIK organised the collection from Monash IVF and packed it up on a pallet ready for transport. Due to Covid19 restrictions in Victoria, DIK Footscray were not in a position to send goods to Port Moresby, however DIK Brisbane had a container with some space available. And so Maria Hicks from Rotary Passport Melbourne reached out to her friends from TFMXpress who sponsored the road logistics from Footscray to Brisbane where it was loaded into the container.
 
We have it on good authority, that the obstetric team at Port Moresby are delighted to have such a quality ultrasound machine at their beck and call and it is already being put to great use. Thank you to all involved!  
 
As a recently retired Victorian provincial obstetrician gynaecologist, John Salmon first visited Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in 2018 for two weeks to help Obstetrician Gynaecologist Professor Glen Mola prepare his junior doctors for their up-and-coming specialist examinations. Port Moresby General Hospital delivers more than 15,000 babies per annum on a very tight budget. There are 20 birthing rooms, separated by flimsy curtains and the unit is maned by a small team off dedicated and well-trained local staff.
 
It was very evident they needed a replacement obstetric ultrasound machine. An ultrasound machine is useful in helping to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths as it’s used to diagnose twins, abnormal fetal positions such as breech or transverse lies, abnormally located placentas, bleeding behind placentas, deceased babies and so on. To use one requires some training, but this is well within the scope of practice for the staff at Port Moresby General Hospital.
 
Sometime after my visit I contacted David Zarfati, associate business manager at Women’s Health Ultrasound GE Healthcare, to see if he could help us. He deals with amongst other things, servicing and replacing GE ultrasound machines in Victoria, Tasmania and ACT. David introduced me to Jon Youings from Monash IVF. Monash IVF were replacing their GE Voluson ultrasounds and these machines are superb, the best in field when they first came out, solidly made and very durable. The Australian TGA made a ruling in 2015 to halve Medicare rebates for ultrasounds performed on equipment more than ten years old. This was to enforce updating of ultrasound equipment to help maintain high standards for services billed to Medicare.
 
Monash IVF were delighted to donate one of their perfectly maintained ten year old ultrasound machines to Port Moresby Hospital. This required a formal donation to Rotary to ensure Monash IVF were tax compliant.
 
So, how do we get an ultrasound machine from Monash IVF to Port Moresby General Hospital? Laurie Fisher at Footscray Rotary Donations In Kind organised the collection from Monash IVF and packed it on a pallet ready for transport. Due to covid restrictions in Victoria, Maria Hicks from Rotary Passport Melbourne reached out to her friends from TFMXpress who sponsored the road logistics from Footscray to Brisbane where a container was getting ready to leave with the destination of Port Moresby.
 
We have it on good authority, that the obstetric team at Port Moresby are delighted to have such a quality ultrasound machine at their beck and call and it is already being put to great use.
 
Thank you to Monash IVF for donating this life changing machine.