Decision soon on Vanuatu twin's lifesaving heart surgery

11.45am

A decision is likely today on whether Auckland's Starship Hospital will operate on a second baby twin from Vanuatu with a potentially fatal heart defect.

Dr Derek Allen, who brought five-week-old twins Margaret and Karen Mandan to New Zealand, is appealing to the New Zealand Government to help fund the operations.

Both twins have a rare but unrelated heart disorder. Margaret, who was operated on soon after arrival, was doing well and likely to be discharged in a few days, he said.

However, Karen was likely to die within three to four months without an operation.

Dr Allen said the two surgeons at Starship were keen to operate but concerned about follow-up treatment. He was trying to reassure them he could provide this, he said.

"I think we should go ahead with the operation -- although I'm not in a place to make that decision," he told National Radio today.

Dr Allen said follow-up care could be provided for Karen at her village in Vanuatu, by an Australian team of heart specialists visiting the island in November. He would provide the GP care himself.

Karen was likely to need a second operation in two or three years, he said.

Dr Allen has pledged to pay personally for the operations if he fails to raise enough money, and is appealing to the New Zealand Government and the public to help.

Karen's surgery alone could cost up to $70,000.

Dr Allen said he was "... looking for compassionate people out there who'll donate five bucks -- and that's all it's going to take to get these operations funded. And if worse comes to worse I have put my guarantee on these children and I'll continue to stand by that entirely".

"I'm not trying to force the issue with the Government, of course, because that'll land me in deep water. But if the Government would like to lend a hand to helping out these children who are our poor neighbours... well, why don't we help? We are a wealthy Pacific nation."

Margaret and Karen were brought to New Zealand by Dr Allen, who works in Vanuatu, about two hours from the village where the babies live with their mother, Julie Mandan.

The issue has generated a debate over who should pay for the operation and the lifetime care Karen will need.

Karen's care could cost $70,000 but Dr Allen said that may only involve a six-monthly check which he said he would provide as the sole doctor for 35,000 people in Vanuatu's Malampa province.

However, Dr Allen has vowed to return to New Zealand for a higher-paying job to pay the debt incurred by the operations to both girls.

Dr Allen has personally underwritten the cost of the operations but had also set up a fund which he said he was sure would be contributed to by compassionate New Zealanders and organisations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said a $6 million development aid scheme for Vanuatu included a medical scheme which allowed patients selected by the Vanuatu government to be sent to New Zealand for tertiary treatment.

"But you have to go through the scheme rather than do it on an ad-hoc basis," he told National Radio.

He acknowledged the medical part of the package was only $150,000.

Mr Goff said he was not criticising Dr Allen, who had come here in good faith, "but equally, New Zealand has a problem that even with the huge budget that we have for health... we simply cannot operate an open-ended process where we can meet all the health needs of the Pacific. Clearly, we can't afford to do that."

There was a huge and rising level of illnesses in the Pacific, such as diabetes.

"We simply cannot save every life ," Mr Goff said. "The needs are endless, right across the board."

New Zealand could only provide aid and it was up to the individual countries to decide how best it was spent -- in health, education or prevention.

Dr Allen said only $150,000 of Vanuatu's aid package was put aside for medical treatment, a figure which had not increased for 10 years.

"It seems a little small to me."

Mr Goff said New Zealand worked with the Pacific governments to identify their priorities within the aid packages.

"It would be nice to do more medical treatment and to meet the costs of that treatment through aid. At the same time, NZ Aid tells me there are the lives of many who can be saved by preventive treatment. Sometimes we have to put prevention and dealing with saving many lives ahead of surgery and saving individual lives."

Dr Allen said he was not prepared to send the twins home to die.

"If the Government's unwilling to give more money... I will try and find this money by compassionate means from people in New Zealand who are noted for their compassion."

Medical aid had already run out "some months ago", so there would be no new funding until July, he said.

However, Mr Goff said the decision on the twin's operation would be made on clinical, not financial, grounds.

Dr Allen would be given the chance to put his case to NZ Aid tomorrow, Mr Goff said.

"We'll try to do the best we can, but... notwithstanding our desires, we can't do everything to help.

"I was in East Timor just a couple of weeks ago. One child in eight there dies before the age of five. It's heart-breaking. We can do a bit to help, but obviously we don't have the whole solution there."

Mr Goff said he wanted to be as generous as possible, but New Zealanders "rightly expect that we give the priority to ensuring that New Zealanders get the health treatment they need".

Those wishing to donate towards the twins' surgery can go to any Westpac bank and put money into Operation Vanuatu Charitable Trust, Dr Allen said.

Margaret's treatment was likely to cost $50,000 and Karen's $70,000, he said.

- NZPA