Kate Datson and Andrew Maru, Clinical Nurse Educator, taking delivery of the ventilator.
Rotary Melbourne's Zoll mobile ventilator, currently in use in ambulances transferring snakebite victims from outlying regional health facilities to Port Moresby General Hospital is saving lives.
Kate Datson, Paramedic Co-ordinator, PNG Snakebite Partnership, has provided this latest update.
I can confirm that since the ventilator was delivered to St John Ambulance PNG and healthcare staff intubation training was completed in September, it has been used 25 times for snakebite patients alone, facilitating transfers between regional health facilities and Port Moresby.
One notable case involved a four-year-old girl who was bitten by a coastal taipan. She was taken to Kwikila Hospital, where she received antivenom, was intubated and ventilated, and later referred to Port Moresby. Remarkably, she was discharged just four days later, walking out of the hospital.
The ventilator has been used on several occasions for critically ill patients too.
You can read more about the PNG Snakebite Partnership on LinkedIn HERE
