Taipei, July 14 (CNA) A Hsinchu doctor working as a medical volunteer in Papua New Guinea in early July saved a young woman's life by removing a large tumor from her ovary, the doctor said in an interview with CNA.
The doctor, named Lin Hsiao-tsu, operated on a local woman whose abdomen was badly swollen at Nonga General Hospital in East New Britain and removed a tumor from the 19-year-old's ovary that was 30 centimeters in diameter, he said.
It was not immediately known if the tumor is benign or malignant, and it is still being examined, Lin said.
Changhua Christian Hospital, where he used to work, has been sending volunteer medical missions to Papua New Guinea since 2005, Lin said, and early on he himself took part in missions organized by the hospital to other countries.
Even after moving to Hsinchu to work as a doctor with the Assisted Reproductive Technology Center at Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital, Lin continued to participate in the overseas missions and went to Papua New Guinea this year.
He found the country severely short of medical resources, with ultrasound exams extremely rare because only three ultrasound machines exist in the country and few people know how to operate them.
Nonga General Hospital, where Lin worked for five days, had only one obstetrics and gynecology clinic a week even though the hospital was especially dedicated to serving women and children.
In addition to limited medical resources, local transportation is also inconvenient. Many people have to walk two days and nights to see a doctor, which discourages many pregnant women from getting prenatal care checkups or even seeing a doctor until they felt extremely unwell, Lin said.
It was in these conditions that Lin came across the young patient with the swollen abdomen and after noticing a shadow in her ovary, he decided to operate on her and ended up removing the huge tumor.
