Page 19 - ICD Newsletter November 2022 Final Draft6

also managed to resolve the radiography issues. Central Highlands of PNG. Unfortunately, due to
Fortunately, the compressor was unaffected as it was violence associated with the PNG election, this had
mounted high. to be called off with little notice.

To avoid future flooding issues the dental clinic has However, online presentations on oral cancer were
been moved from the ground floor to the first floor. given at both the Medical Symposium and the Dental
Also, the governor of Sihanoukville has done some Specialty meeting which were held in Port Moresby.
earthworks to clear the rubbish blocking the nearby These were well received by the PNG Health Minister,
creek. the CEO of the Port Moresby General Hospital, the
Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences
With the enthusiasm of peers and ICD funding, the at the University of PNG as well as by many local
first two volunteer trips for 2023 are booked, with medical and dental practitioners. The presentations
final year graduates to accompany the dentists. We have stirred up a lot of interest in PNG-based oral
expect to provide a lot of pain relief and local staff cancer research. Similarly, the Dean has accepted
training in these first few trips. Hopefully as we re- a proposal to establish a Masters in Oral Medicine
establish more preventative measures and restorative and the proposal is going through the University
treatments can begin again. assessment process.

Project volunteer leaders often doubt themselves and
the viability of their work. The ICD support provides
validation and a wonderful network who rally to
support in so many ways. Thank you! We do require
some dental volunteers in 2023. Please contact me
for more information.

Petrina Bowden
petrinabowden@gmail.com

PNG Betel Nut Education

According to the World Health Organization, Papua In addition, arrangements have been made for the
New Guinea (PNG) has the highest prevalence of oral presenters to run workshops in each of the four
cancer in the world due to betel nut chewing (locally regions of PNG starting in 2023 to improve secondary
known as “Buai”). prevention of oral cancer by screening before the
onset of signs and symptoms.

The Section VIII Board of ICD kindly arranged for a
container of personal protective equipment donated
by Henry Schein to be shipped to Port Moresby. In
an email to the Section VIII Administrative Officer,
Dr Siddiqi, the Director of the Dental District at the
University of PNG, noted, “Your email arrived as a
blessing as we were counting our stocks and didn’t
know how we would operate in the future. PNG needs
as much PPE as possible. We have 70 dental students
Fellow Mahmood Siddiqi arranged for two oral and 30 staff members. We see and treat about 80
medicine specialist researchers, Fellow Michael patients a day. You can imagine the chaos that we
McCullough from the University of Melbourne and have every day and at times we have to shut down the
Dr Elizabeth Sari from La Trobe University, along clinic due to no-availability of PPE”.
with Fellow Len Crocombe to run dentist workshops
in early recognition of oral cancer and in the taking Mahmood Siddiqi, mssiddiqi1@hotmail.com
of biopsies (using sheep tongues) in Goroka in the Len Crocombe, l.crocombe@latrobe.edu.au

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