Despite election fever gripping our political landscape, the Ministry of Health is focused on a development that is guaranteed to change the medical profession and health services in Vanuatu.
Eighteen Ni-Vanuatu graduates from medical schools in Cuba, Fiji and China took their Hippocrates’s Oath in front of the Acting Director General of Health, George Taleo and senior clinicians, Dr Hensley Garae and Dr Basil Leodoro last week.
The ceremony marks the beginning of their two years internship program before they receive their license to practice as medical doctors.
“My message to you all is to be faithful to your calling and to uphold the traditions and safe practices of our profession in order to grow and mature as a holistic doctor who always considers the patient as their first priority,” said Dr. Garae.
All the doctors recited the Hippocrates oath, which has been adopted globally since 1948, to symbolically mark the transition of medical student into medical doctor.
The DG of Health congratulated the young doctors on their achievements and underlined the importance of integrating clinical services with preventative programs.
“The gap between primary health care, public health initiatives and clinical care in Vanuatu is too wide,” he stressed. “I expect you all to gain an understanding and appreciation of both aspects of medicine, both the clinical and the public health sides, in order to address the issues facing our nation today.”
Historically, this is the largest ever number of medical graduates to have returned to start internship in Vanuatu.
“The largest number before this was in 2004 when Doctors Tony Harry, Joe Warsal, Graham Patas, Trevor Cullwick and myself commenced work as Interns,” recalled Dr Leodoro.
“Whilst this large number of doctors may be a challenge, we trust that with the right support and training, these young medical doctors will advance medical services around the country in a huge way.”
A further 12 Interns are expected to join the Internship program next year, which would mean that by 2018, there will be 30 newly registered doctors in Vanuatu.
“It has been a long time coming and i would like to acknowledge the huge sacrifice that these young doctors and their families have given to train overseas and then return to serve our people,” said Dr Garae.
“We should all support them, in whatever way possible, to ensure that they complete this program successfully.”
The Ministry of Health and Public Service Commission will be integrating these young doctors into the health work force which will see the number of doctors in Vanuatu double from what is was in 2010.
“Our medical workforce is growing and we want to see it develop alongside our other services such as nursing, allied health and public health in order to have a positive impact on healthcare in this country,” Taleo summarized.
The Vanuatu Medical and Dental Association could not be reached for a comment at the time of printing.