Jigmi Wangdi

Two Australian health experts are in Bhutan to educate and train the local doctors and paediatricians on complex cases and teach junior doctors about various medical and surgical conditions in children.

Paediatric surgeon Dr Chris Kimber and liver and gastrointestinal surgeon Professor Roger Berry helped the medical team at JDWNRH operate on seven complex cases.

Dr Chris Kimber was also responsible for enabling the surgical procedure of separating the conjoined twins, Nima and Dawa Palden in 2018. The two twins are healthy and going to school today.

Dr Chris Kimber from the Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, said that the aim was to train paediatricians about conditions in children and how to diagnose them and to help work through the management plan of sick children.

A paediatric surgeon at JDWNRH, Dr Karma Sherub, said that such initiatives offer an alternative to treat complex medical conditions locally, which are otherwise referred to Kolkata.

Professor Roger Berry gave several lectures on diseases of the pancreas, liver and gallbladder to the surgical staff and mentored the surgeons through some difficult operations.

The two experts also talked about conditions that affect a baby in the womb, who are affected by surgical conditions. “We talked about how they can pick up problems with newborn babies,” Dr Chris Kimber said.

Dr Chris Kimber said that some of the patients who had received the surgery had been suffering from abnormal connections from the bladder and blocked bladders, among others. “We were able to treat these cases with the medical team here.”

He said that they would be keen on training doctors from Bhutan in Australia if the government sees the need to build the capacity. “Dr Karma Sherub also trained for a year in Melbourne with us. And we would be glad to train more, if need be, in the future.”

Dr Karma Sherub said that the way forward is to ensure that the medical staff received such training to handle complex cases.

The collaboration in the field of paediatric surgeries has been taking place for the past 10 years.