Surgeon shortage forces Middlemore to reject tsunami survivor

A New Zealand doctor who is seeking help for a tsunami survivor with serious burns will be told Middlemore Hospital cannot accept the boy because of a shortage of burns surgeons.

The boy suffered burns to 70 per cent of his body when a gas stove he was cooking on exploded at a displacement camp in Nias, Indonesia. He had been airlifted to Medan Hospital.

Dr Derek Allen, who is working with SurfAid, said the 14-year-old needed specialist care in a first-rate burns unit to survive and he had hoped to send him to Kidzfirst at Middlemore. Hospitals in Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were also being checked.

Yesterday, Chris Fleming, general manager surgical and ambulatory services at Middlemore, said the hospital was unable to accept the boy as it did not currently have the "surgical resource" to care for patients from outside New Zealand.

Mr Fleming said the burns surgeons were a "scarce resource" internationally. The hospital had two burns surgeons and a third signed up but ideally wanted five.

The staff shortage meant the hospital was unable to meet a contract to care for burns patients from Tahiti and any major burns from the South Pacific island would go to Australia.