The entire proceeds of the Open Garden fundraiser in November last year went towards the purchase of a much needed diathermy unit for the Operating Theatre at the Vila Central Hospital. In the words of Dr Richard Leona, surgeon at the Hospital, “Thank you very much on behalf of Vila Central Hospital to the Melanie Jewson Foundation – we really need this diathermy.”  

A surgical diathermy machine or electrosurgery unit, is a piece of equipment that is used in the vast majority of surgical procedures across almost every discipline. The unit generates a focused electrical current that is used to cauterise blood vessels and dissect tissue during surgery to limit blood loss, make precise cuts and reduce the rates of infection. There wouldn’t be a single operating room in Australia that doesn’t have a diathermy machine and very few surgeons who would be comfortable doing major surgery without one. Prior to our gift, Vila Central Hospital only had access to one very small and underpowered diathermy machine across two operating theatres. In Australia this kind of machine would be used for minor procedures in an outpatient setting, whereas the surgeons in Port Vila were forced to use it for major operations.

Thank you very much on behalf of Vila Central Hospital to the Melanie Jewson Foundation – we really need this diathermy.

The donation was made possible as a result of the extraordinary generosity of the shipping company  Kalgin International who shipped the diathermy to Vanuatu at no cost and to Conmed Linvatec, medical equipment supplier, who provided the unit to the Foundation at cost price.