Mobile surgical unit needed urgently

By TOM CLARKE

Red tape is holding up the development of a mobile surgical unit which an organiser, says, will take sophisticated medical services to the most distant and isolated parts of the country.

Urological specialist and medical entrepreneur Jon Cadwallader, who has just been appointed medical coordinator at Mercy Hospital, says the mobile surgical service should have been up and running last year, but politics have put a stumbling block in the path of its development.

Mr Cadwallader is one of the founders of Mobile Medical Technology, which five years ago began a mobile service for the treatment of kidney stones. It was established to make available high-cost equipment and specialist expertise to people throughout the country, at a common level of fees.

"The proposed mobile surgical service is based on the same philosophy, but would offer multi-disciplinary services," he says. "We found that rural communities like North Auckland and East Cape have just died. Dairies have gone, petrol bowsers have gone, banks have gone and the people have been left with nothing.

"They're having to travel big distances for minor (medical) procedures and our feeling is that we can restore some of that by taking surgical service out to them, based in a mobile theatre."

The proposal is for a very large truck and trailer unit which would incorporate an operating theatre and support services, capable of providing day-stay surgery ranging from gynaecology and ear, nose and throat complaints, to general surgery.

Similar services are provided in the hinterland of South Africa and Mr Cadwallader says there has considerable interest in the project from the Australian Federal Government, which has been holding discussions with the Auckland group.

The proposal is before the New Zealand Government and Mr Cadwallader says while the concept has been well received, discussions on its implementation are still going on.

He believes the system is not suitable for private industry and needs to be funded by the Government.

But he says it has reached a critical point and if it does not get the go ahead shortly, it is likely to stall.

There is an urgent need for it, he says.

"There's concern about the loss of rural communities and in recent years governments have been looking pretty critically at rural hospitals.

"This is not to replace rural hospitals in any shape or form. This goes out beyond them to deliver skill levels and services to very small areas that would otherwise not be available."

Mr Cadwallader's Mercy Hospital appointment makes him responsible for the interface between the hospital and medical practitioners and for coordinating services between doctors, nurses and patients.