Wanganui Hospital's first surgical education and training programme "advanced level" trainee has left Wanganui with nothing but praise for the hospital and the staff she worked with.
Dr Akanksha Bhargava, a general surgery registrar, has been working at the hospital for the past six months.
Dr Bhargava said the patients she had
treated had been very accommodating of the fact she was a surgical trainee and the staff had treated her as "one of the family".
She said Wanganui Hospital was run very well with the different departments working well together.
"I would love to come back to work here when I have completed my training," she said.
Wanganui Hospital expects to take up to three advanced level surgical trainees a year.
This follows the hospital joining the Advanced Training Programme in surgery at the beginning of the year.
The programme is managed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and joining automatically entitles the hospital to be part of the national general surgical training programme.
Dr Semisi Aiono, general surgery consultant and head of department at the Whanganui District Health Board, said it was important that Wanganui Hospital played its part in providing on-going training for future medical professionals including the hospital's surgical workforce.
"Wanganui Hospital has a lot to contribute to surgical registrar training at preliminary and advanced levels," Dr Aiono said.
