MELBOURNE: A group of Australia's leading and internationally renowned medical specialists will visit Sarawak next week as part of a trade delegation from South Australia (SA) to Kuching and Kuala Lumpur.

Led by SA Industry and Trade Minister Rory McEwen, this is the first time that such a group of top medical specialists will visit Sarawak.

A seminar on `Medicine in the 21st Century' will be conducted at the Kuching Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, Oct 7, at 6.30pm when the specialists will outline some of the latest advances in medicine.

Leading the specialists is Prof Tan Hock Lim, who is the Inaugural Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Adelaide and Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

Acknowledged as a world pioneer and an international expert in keyhole surgery in children, Malaysian-born Prof Tan will explain how it is now possible to perform complex surgical procedures in young children without needing to make an open cut, using some of the techniques and equipment which he designed.

According to Prof Tan, these new techniques will completely revolutionise how surgical conditions in children are treated.

He will also visit the Sarawak General Hospital where he will conduct a series of lectures to surgeons and will perform keyhole surgery on several Sarawakian Children with Dr Anne John, Head of the Department of Surgery, who is also an Australian-trained paediatric surgeon.

Another member of the visiting medical team will be Dr John Chen, a Sarawakian now living in Adelaide. He is the Deputy Director of the Liver Transplantation Department at Fenders University and is an expert on liver cancers.

Dr Chen will give a talk on the latest treatment for liver cancers and liver transplantation.

Dr Suren Krishnan, an ex-Singaporean and expert on reconstructive head and neck surgery, will talk on surgery for head and neck cancers, while Dr Martin Borg, an expert on radiotherapy from the Royal Adelaide Hospital Cancer Centre, will discuss the latest treatment for cancer of the nose, a common cancer among Asians.

Dr Bong will be making his fourth trip to Kuching and will give a separate talk on breast cancer on Monday night.

Professor Alan Crockett, an expert on chest diseases, will give an update on asthma and other common chest conditions.

"We are keen to share our expertise with Malaysian specialists and to develop links with Sarawakian specialists and to help Malaysia train more specialists," Professor Tan said.

"A new telehealth system, about to be launched in Australia, will make it easy for Sarawak specialists to link up with their Australian counterparts for real time virtual consultation."

Dr Chris Hughes, an authority in telehealth, will tell the Sarawak medical seminar how this can be done.

Dr Krishnan, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons chairman for South Australia and Northern Territories, says that "coming from this part of the world, many of us would like to give something back" - a sentiment shared by Dr Chen and Prof Tan.

The seminar, to be opened by McEwen, is free and is inclusive of a networking dinner. It is open to the public.

It is jointly sponsored by the Australia Malaysia Business Council (SA) Inc and the South Australia government and has the support of the Malaysian Medical Association (Sarawak Chapter), the Sarawak Alumni of the University of Adelaide (SAUA) and the Australia Business Centre, Sarawak.

The free admission is on a first come first served basis via registration.

Those interested to attend the seminar can register by contacting Dr Kiu, of the Malaysian Medical Association (Sarawak Chapter) on 082-874037, or contact Rodger Chan, of the Australia Business Centre in Sarawak, on 082-48388, 483999 or 0128840033 or e-mail rodgerc@tm.net.my.

The Sarawak Alumni of the University of Adelaide can be contacted via Ms Fong on 082-346712 or 016-8592411 or Dr Sim Swee Liang on 082-247693.- Bernama