MY four-year-old daughter Tutina called Switzerland, “Sweet Island”, whenever somebody asked her where I was going to, which I laughed at first but later realised that it did have some meaning.
I was awarded an AO Foundation Education fellowship and extra funding to continue my Orthopedics Surgical training in Switzerland, a country not only known worldwide for its famous mouth watering chocolate and skiing but the home of our well known Swiss Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr Hermann Oberli.
Saying goodbye to my family at the Henderson Airport was very difficult knowing of course that the long months away from them would be extremely missed.
All in the name of sacrifice and progress we have to make such decisions in life to improve our current state.
Well the journey began on the 5th of March 2010 with a two-hour flight from Honiara Airport to Brisbane International Airport; I then had to spend a night at Airport 85 Motel, a small but well fitted motel, well known by a lot of Australian tourists wanting to travel to the Solomon Islands.
The owner along with his family and staff were very kind and glad to have another wantok passing through.
Thinking that the journey so far was long it got even worse with a seven-hour flight to Changi International, Singapore, followed by a 13-hour flight to Frankfurt International, Germany.
From here on board the Swiss Airline it was only a 35 minute flight to Zurich International, Switzerland.
In summary the journey was long, sleepless and excruciatingly painful with the sudden change of weather and temperature; from a warm 31 degrees and rainy weather to a minus 6 degrees, and snow within a matter of three days, thanks to modern transport.
Dr Oberli was waiting for me at the airport standing outside the glass window looking worryingly at the flight schedules if the local boy from Solomon Islands had come or had got lost in the snow storm in Germany.
Seeing me eventually he smiled and greeted me with his Swiss accent pijin greeting ‘you how’ and then we travelled from Zurich by train to his home in Muntelier, which was another hour.
One thing I learnt from him was that the weather was very unusually cold in March which is supposed to be much warmer but for me I just thought summer in Switzerland is still cold.
Jet Lag; this notion is always mentioned by those who travel long trips.
For me the feeling was not funny yet acceptable as the first three nights saw me waking up hours with difficulty in sleeping.
I always wondered if a few pints of Solbrew could have remedied the symptoms but that is a different issue.
Being an ambassador from the Solomon Islands I had to see our benefactors and that took me to see a secretary of a Steven Johnson Foundation in the city of Bern.
It was through their kindness and generosity to donate money for the building of the Oberli’s Fracture Clinic and also for funding training not only doctors from Solomon Islands in the field of surgery but other health personnel as well.
Sustainability and continuity of projects was an issue highlighted by these generous institutions and after meeting up with them and listening to us about the ongoing activities in the Solomons, they were extremely happy.
When one talks about modern technology at work this was but a dream come true when I visited a company owned by a respectable friend of Dr Oberli, Mr Andreas Reinhard, an Occupational technician and owner of the Ortho Team Company.
His company made shoes for patients and people who had problems with their feet with advanced equipment and state of the art products.
Prosthetics, wheel chairs and other orthopedic equipments were made here and seeing the workshop was just overwhelming.
Knowing that such advancement is farfetched for my country yet the principles for the need of such basic tools and equipments is still important used with very affordable materials.
For example the importance of having like a good supply of crutches for post operative patients or doing a proper below knee amputation with the understanding that he or she will need a prosthetic limb is important after all the goal is to improve or give the best quality of life for each person no matter what the disability within one’s limit of resources.
We were even informed of the possibility that one of their top technicians would volunteer to work in the Solomon next year if possible which I thought was just fantastic.
Dr Herman Oberli and his wife Elizabeth were in the Solomon Islands for more than a decade and like some expatriate doctors saw the great need of the people of Solomon Islands.
Sustaining some standard of patient care was a challenge any person from outside would ever want to undertake because of yet the various differences in our Health systems, cultures and resources only to name a few.
Well one had to start somewhere and that was to have some sort of basic infrastructure first like the Oberli’s Fracture Clinic and later on the emergence of the Orthopedic Surgical Department at the National Referral Hospital, Honiara, and Solomon Island in 2005.
Despite the infancy stage of the department it now has two qualified Surgeons namely, Dr Silent Tovosia (Guadalcanal) and Dr Patrick Houasia (Malaita).
The team now comprises of three Registrars namely, Dr George Kabwere (Honiara), Dr Steven Kodovaru (Choiseul) Dr Alex Munamua with Dr Patrick Houasia our Head of Department and Surgeon.
All of this was Dr Hermann Oberli’s vision and this same vision is still shared and embraced by the team.
Having just doctors is not enough, it is the specialist’s for example like the surgeons and physicians who really make the difference therefore we should be look after these professionals well in the country.
Dr Oberli as he is well known, a bone doctor made history in the Solomon Islands in the field of Medicine, surprisingly two articles (Belated farewell Dr Oberli, 13/03/10 and A matter of National Shame 10/02/10) which appeared in the Solomon Star acknowledged this surgeon and thus I once again commend him for the great work he had done and is still doing.
God bless Solomon Islands.
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