Gizo Week 1

I greeted Amelia (the other medical student doing her elective at Gizo the same time as me) at Honiara airport and headed over to the ‘domestic terminal’- basically a hut. The plane was absolutely tiny, taking around 25 passengers. It was a beautiful flight with a slightly scary landing on the Gizo airstrip, a literal long and thin island consisting of a runway and nothing more- you can see sea to both sides! We were expecting to find the Gizo Hotel shuttle across to Gizo, but when we did not were offered a lift in another boat. This turned out to be the Bishop picking up some volunteers- a lucky coincidence as we would be staying in an apartment at the Catholic Complex! Our lovely neighbour George offered to show us around Gizo, so after unpacking a bit and having a very needed shower, we had a tour with George and indulged in a meal at the Gizo Hotel.

We introduced ourselves at the hospital on Tuesday and had an introductory tour. The hospital is a nice building, funded by the Japanese, and although a little worse for wear. There are male and female wards, a labour ward, a theatre, outpatients and emergency department. The doctors are lovely and to be respected as they have to cover all specialties and chip in where they can. There is quite a contrast to the NHS both in the nature of the conditions, the pace, the expectations of patients and the resources available. Gizo Hospital covers the whole of the western province, so people travel huge distances to come here. So far I have spent time on the ward rounds and in outpatients- a general clinic where people come in with anything and everything! The stand out clinical encounter has been a patient who was referred with “election fever”, aka got a bit worked up in an argument! With so few investigations to base decisions on and much fewer treatments available, it forces you to think in such a different way! Another challenge has been understanding the language. They speak pigin here so some words are the same or sound similar, but it’s taking a while to get my ear in. I’ve started a list of useful medical terms to try and help! Two other medical students, Clare and Caitlin, are just finishing their electives here, so have been helpful in giving us tips about the hospital. We have also met Suzie, an Australian pharmacist.

In our free time we’ve spent time at some of the resorts nearby- quite different to resorts elsewhere, the resorts here are small and low-key and each on their own island. They tend to consist of a bar/ restaurant on stilts over the sea, a beach, gorgeous reefs for snorkelling and a few huts on stilts right on the sea. They kindly pick you up from Gizo for the 10mins boat ride across and let you go across for a few hours to hang out (on the proviso you’ll presumably buy food or drinks there). I’ve done some amazing snorkelling- there are SO many fish and beautiful corals just off the shore from the resorts and also paddle boarded around one of the islands. Unfortunately there is no beach here in Gizo town.

I faced my lifelong fear of the sea and went on a ‘try dive’. I was introduced to the basic skills and dived to 6m. I’d been pretty spooked about diving from hearing about some horrible accidents in the last year, so was pretty scared! However, it was beautiful down on the ocean floor up close to the fish and I found the breathing etc ok. I’m not suddenly a converted diver and won’t be doing any courses or deep dives any time soon, but may try another shallow-ish dive since the sea-life is SO amazing here. Either way, I’m very glad to have tried it!

There’s not much to do here in the evenings, however we’ve been to a party at Dive Gizo (one of the staff was leaving) where we enjoyed a good old aussie BBQ and wine, attended a Hula dancing class (a nice substitute to salsa!), gone for a pizza, enjoyed a local dance show and hosted a dinner party with Clare, Caitlin and George. Otherwise there’s been a lot of reading and sleeping!

Luckily the elections seem to have gone smoothly- in Gizo the female candidate won, which is good to hear! Now for the lengthy and apparently very corrupt selection of the prime minister!