2019年巴布亞紐幾內亞短期醫療團服務感想
Tracking back to our history: “ We left no one behind”
雲林基督教醫院急診科 ─ 唐家沅 醫師
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country in Oceania. The entire nation itself consists of more than 600 islands with a total population of 800 million people speaking more than 800 dialects.
We first arrived at Port Moresby， the capitol of the country. The First Secretary of our embassy met us at the airport. Afterwards， we traveled to the fourth largest city in PNG， Rabaul. This city had been previously destroyed by a volcanic eruption in September 1994. After we arrived， we met with representatives from Nonga Hospital headed by Miss Varina， She took care of us just like a mother “kakaro” (chicken) would to her children， after that， we enjoyed a banquet hosted by Dame Sandra Lau. Formerly， she had been honored by Queen Elizabeth II as Dame Commander due to her charitable and welfare contributions to the local people.
On the second day， we began our work at Nonga Hospital. The day started with an opening ceremony held by Dr. Yeap. He introduced us to the head of each department. Dr. Rocky， who is the chief of the emergency department， he originally come from the Solomon Islands， apologized to us for the recent rupture in diplomatic relations between his native country and Taiwan. He explained that the decisions were made by only a few members of their Parliament， most of his people love Taiwan， he added that the medical and agricultural missions did a great job there.
Nonga Hospital was built by the Japanese government during the 80’ and 90’ of last Century， most of the medical equipment was donated by other countries like Australia， New Zealand， and Taiwan (CCH). Some of the medical apparatus were inoperable due to missing parts which could easily be repaired in our own country. Meanwhile， our own medical engineer tried his best to fix the machine but was unsuccessful. Finally we decided to try and locate the broken parts and replace them on our subsequent missions. We are “one talk” (friend) each other， then I do my best to support them， I will not left them behind.
The power supply is extremely unstable in Rabaul. We suffered from blackouts several times a day， the sophisticated medical equipment like sonar， CT， and MRI machines cannot tolerate those brusque voltage interruptions. Perhaps the portable sonar machine， in which we had trained the local medical staffs to use， would be a good solution for this problem. The portable sonar is not directly attached to any power source and it can be connected to the mobile power banks. Additionally， we can use it on our own cell phone or iPad screen.
Since I am a military history enthusiast， I asked Varina to take us to the Japanese tunnels and our soldiers' tombs. First， we visited those ingenious tunnels designed by the Japanese and dug by prisoners of war. These tunnels were seven stories underground， including features like kitchens and living rooms， there was even an operating room. Beside the tunnels， there are tombs of our fallen soldiers who had been war prisoners. I was tearfully astonished to see our national emblem engraved on the tombstones. They suffered from overwork， lack of medical attention and inanition by their captors， unfortunately， they did not persisted until our victory under such inhumane treatment. We placed a bouquet of flower in front of each tombstone and showed our respect， I prayed for eternal peace for the souls of those brave soldiers who gloriously sacrificed their lives for our country. Ultimately， we have not forgotten our compatriots in this remote jungle far away from home， now I can fully explain to my son the feat of our courageous soldiers during World War II， and I can proudly tell him， "We left no one behind!"