PRIME Australia Newsletter November 2010 (A project of HealthServe Australia)

Dear friends,
The international PRIME movement is one promoting transformation of medical education at home and abroad...... It is one that encourages Christian educators to engage with students and trainees in broad aspects of health including the spiritual through emphasis on values, ethics and whole person approaches.  CMDFA and HealthServe members caught the vision in the ICMDA 2006 Sydney conference and invited John Geater of PRIME Int. back to meet in Brisbane in May 2009. Since then we have established PRIME Aust as a project of HealthServe Australia and have a memorandum of understanding with our British counterparts. We share news, requests for help and are beginning to do things together in teaching trips to other countries.

 

India connections
Please pray for Dr Sydney Paul a general practitioner of Deniliquin, NSW. He is on the way to Mercy Hospital, Calcutta  where for two weeks he will facilitate a contact program of the Post Graduate Diploma of Family Medicine of Christian Medical College Vellore. Sydney is a medical graduate of Madras University, a fellow of the RACGP with experience teaching in the Rural Clinical School. So he is well equipped to contribute in his home country. The promotion of family medicine in India accords with the transforming vision of PRIME. A revolution in thinking and organisation is needed in Indian medical culture.

Sydney Paul has joined Owen Lewis and Helen Malcolm as volunteer tutors in India. Owen and Helen are due to go back in February 2011 to help in the PGDFM contact programs in Delhi and Chennai. A British PRIME doctor will be tutoring in another location. Seven locations simultaneously run 2 weeks contact programs with video hook-up. We are supplementing the tutor pool provided through CMC Vellore and its network, with a trip to India roughly every 8 months for three tutors. The new work in government hospitals has started in 4 states but is being managed without the need for non-Indian tutors. So for now we have enough tutors unless one of has to pull out for some reason.

 

A new request has been received for a PRIME tutor to teach inAssamfor 6-12 months...

 

GP training programme director required in India, based at 4B Satribari Hospital, Guwahati. This is an exciting opportunity to help establish a new year long  GP training programme for India in a Christian hospital, run under the supervision of CMC Vellore. The duties would be: o To coordinate and organize the program.  o To mentor candidates to be effective family physicians o To innovate and develop a template for such future programs to be run organization wide.  o To help develop a family medicine healthcare delivery model at 4B Satribari. An Indian rate salary would be payable The programme is due to start in April 2011, and a commitment of at least 6 months would be advantageous. This would suit a GP Educator or experienced trainer who is looking to take a sabbatical. Previous familiarity with India would be helpful but is not essential.  Please also explore the 4B Healthcare website to understand more ... http://4bhealthcare.org

 

Dr Susan Clarke, a general practitioner of Cleveland, Qld , and PRIME tutor, is currently in St Stephens Hospital, Delhi looking for a long term teaching position in India. She has been lead to this career direction for some time. She came to the first PRIME tutor training in Brisbane in June 2010. Please pray for Susan and for the right job for her.

 

Papua New Guinea connection
PRIME Aust and CMDFA’s connection with PNG has begun to develop closer since the formation of ICMDA Oceania in 2009 with Assoc Professor Bill Hague acting very effectively as regional Secretary.

 

Proposed Easter 2011 PRIME trip to Port Moresby, PNG
In October, Bill Hague made a most productive trip to Port Moresby. He had been invited to teach O&G in the MMed course at the Port Moresby General Hospital.  While there, he was asked to speak, wearing his ICMDA Oceania Regional Secretary hat, to the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF) group at the Medical School, and he subsequently met with a smaller group of doctors and medical students (see attached picture).  He also met the Dean of the Medical School in PNG, Sir Isi Kefau, who is an active Christian and very onside.

 

As a result of these discussions, it is planned to hold a conference at Easter 2011 (23-25 April) in Port Moresby under the auspices of TSCF, who normally hold conferences about that time of year, to be led by Bill and a joint team from Australasia and PNG under the banner of PRIME.  It is proposed that there be two days of medical education open to all on the Good Friday and the Saturday, and a day of fellowship for Christian doctors and students on Easter Day.  The planned theme for the education days is "The world of medicine", using materials from PRIME International.

 

Bill would like to hear both from people who would like to join the teaching team and from others who would like to visit PNG to participate in the conference.  Would-be tutors will need to follow the PRIME process by providing a CV and 2 referees.  Preference will be given to those who have attended PRIME tutor training but this is not a strict requirement.  Please contact Bill via email: bill.hague  AT adelaide.edu.au, phone: 08 8361 7088, or SMS: 041 111 4575.

 

Please pray for the planning of this trip. The conference may well attract 100-150 students, doctors and other health professionals.  It will be a great opportunity to build the links of fellowship between CMDFA and brothers and sisters in PNG, and to grow the currently rather dormant Christian Medical Fellowship in PNG, as well as to reach out to those doctors and students in PNG, who do not have an active Christian faith.