Many Pacific Island Countries face challenges in providing specialised clinical services, due to factors such as low surgical workforce density and limited training opportunities. The Solomon Islands currently only have three anaesthetists, but needs many more to serve their population.

At the request of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons are supporting the National Referral Hospital to establish an Anaesthesia Training Centre. This project will initially enhance the infrastructure of the Training Centre, and will procure teaching equipment. Once the training infrastructure has been established, RACS will support the Training Centre Director in conducting ongoing mentoring activities for trainees, and also facilitate overseas training sessions.

Additionally, an inclusiveness analysis of the Training Centre will be conducted to identify training opportunities for female health professionals.

The long-term goal of this project is for Solomon Islands to provide sustainable specialist training nationally, which will ultimately lead to a higher number of surgical specialists and an improved quality and safety of clinical services in country.

This project is led by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and is funded through Australian Aid from the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).