Interplast

Interplast Australia and New Zealand is a non profit company incorporated in Victoria founded in 1983 as an association between the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the then Rotary District 980. It provides voluntary medical teams who carry out plastic and reconstructive surgery in developing countries. Programs are actively supported by Rotary Districts and Clubs throughout Australia and New Zealand. Rotarians are members of the Company, the Board and the Interplast Rotary Committee. It has recently adopted the motto: "Repairing Bodies, Rebuilding Lives". 

 

Interplast is staffed by volunteer Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Fellows of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Registered Nurses from Australia and New Zealand. Rotary volunteers also accompany many of the medical teams and assist with various administraive and logistic tasks.

 

District 9810 has a very active Interplast district committee and a number of our Rotarians have participated as members of Interplast teams over the past 10 years. The chairman of the Interplast district committee is Ian Armstrong. He would be pleased to provide a speaker and explain to your club how you might beome involved in the Interplast program. Complete the Email Form at the foot of this page to contact Ian

 

What's it like to go on an Interplast tour?

 PP Ian Armstrong accompanied an Interplast team to Fiji in June 2006 and has provided a short report of that visit. Click on the following link to download Ian's report:

Ian Armstrong's report on Fiji

 

PP Keith Maxwell has an excellent presentation on CD about his trip to Laos in 2005. Please contact Keith on 0418 647 064 for further details.

 

Every year about 20 programs are conducted in our developing neighboring countries. These programs included consultations and operations and also involve intensive training programs and workshops for local doctors and medical staff.

 

When an Interplast team arrives, they bring their own medical supplies to reduce burden on local hospital and use hospital clinic & theatres to undertake assessments and perform operations.

 

A team usually comprises 2 surgeons, 1 anesthetist, 1 theatre charge nurse plus Interplast organizational support and maybe a Rotarian observer. The hospital provides diagnostic testing, nursing support & after care local surgeons and anesthetists supported and trained with team specialists.

 

A typical schedule for a team might be:

Day 1 - Clinical assessment of 40 + patients

Day 2 - 4 operations on all those assessed and able to be treated by team.

Each day the team looks at results of previous operations and conducts more consultations with patients and local medical team.

 

This program will be repeated for up to 10 consecutive days. That's what makes a program.

 

A program will typically deliver:

30+ successful operations and 40+ consultations per week

Cost of $42,000 for two week program, the equivalent of $250,000 in medical charges in Australia.

60+ restored lives and happier families

Improved International understanding of problems and advancement of goodwill

 

Click here to visit the Interplast Website produced by the Australasian College of Surgeons

 

The photo at to top of this page shows a child sleeping peacefully after cleft palate correction.