Author: Dr John Batten, Chair, Foundation for Surgery

As the year draws to a close and we look forward to the festive season, many of us take this time to reflect on what truly matters—family, connection, and the gift of good health. But for countless people across our region, even the simplest operation remains out of reach. A middle ear infection untreated can lead to chronic discharging ears, major hearing loss and deafness can be prevented. These realities are faced every day by too many across the Indo-Pacific region.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Global Health Program, supported by the Foundation for Surgery, is working to change this. Together, we partner with local communities to strengthen health systems, train medical teams, and provide essential surgical care where it is needed most.

Thanks to generous supporters like you, we’ve been able to:
• Deliver thousands of life-changing operations across the region.
• Provide advanced training and mentorship for local surgeons, anaesthetists, and nurses.
• Support hospitals with vital surgical equipment and infrastructure.
• Empower local health workers to continue providing safe surgery long after our visiting teams return home.

We request your support during the end of year fundraising campaign to enable RACS Global Health to undertake much needed surgical missions to nations in the Indo-Pacific region. Please consider making a donation to the Foundation for Surgery. Donations of more than $2 in Australia and $5 in Aotearoa New Zealand are tax deductible.

Together, we can build a lasting impact:
• $100,000 will enable the purchase of a critically needed full ENT surgical equipment kit.
• $65,000 is needed to send one surgical team to an Indo-Pacific country where children, some just new-born, need urgent surgical care.
• $30,000 will support four medical educators to travel to the region to train Pacific clinicians to increase clinical confidence, knowledge and skills.
• $20,000 will provide funds to ensure that our clinical training programs can provide current versions of training manuals and replacement of training materials required for training simulation.
• $25,000 will enables two Indo-Pacific surgeons to undertake training such as CCrISP or EMST with RACS in Australia. This enables them to return home and boost the number of local faculty able to train locally.
• $10,000 will support two regional surgical registrars to return to Fiji to sit their final exams.

Your kindness today will have an impact far beyond the festive season. Together, we can build a world where access to safe surgery is not a privilege, but a right.

Please DONATE NOW