The Pacific Way Update 2023- Volume 1

Mr. Karl Romjin

Welcome to the PPTC’s new Financial
Controller,
Karl Romijn

Karl is a qualified
Chartered Accountant who gained his Bachelor of Commerce and Administration
from Victoria University, Wellington in 2010. His professional roles have
included senior business advisor, commercial account manager, and chief
financial officer for several organisations in Wellington and apart from having
an absolute love for numbers, spreadsheets and financial data, he is an avid
and keen sportsman who continues to play and coach a variety of sports
including football, tennis, and cricket

Mr. John Farrell

Farewell to John Farrell for over 10 years of Service to the PPTC

John is a qualified Chartered Accountant who provided accounting services to a number of not-for-profit organisations including the PPTC. John was Chief Accountant for 14 years with Lotto NZ where he managed a team of accounting professionals. John has also provided accounting services to the National Bank of NZ as well as Child, Youth and Family. John worked for not-for-profit organisations for many years, an area in which he developed broad knowledge and skills in both their accounting and business needs. The PPTC thanks John for his fine efforts as Financial Controller of the PPTC for over 9 years and his dedication and commitment to the Pacific Region in assisting PPTC Consultants in meeting the health needs within Pacific communities. The PPTC wishes John the very best for his approaching retirement and hopes he can now take the long-awaited rest that he is deserving of.

WHO COLLABORATING CENTRE FORUM: 28th and 29th
November 2022 Cambodia

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific presented the Fourth Regional Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres in the Western Pacific from 28 to 29 November 2022 in Siem Reap, Cambodia and Phil Wakem (CEO) and John Elliot (PPTC Chair) were invited to attend as representatives of the PPTC. The PPTC has carried the title of WHO Collaborating Centre for External Quality Assessment since 1990. The Forum enabled WHO and its Collaborating Centres to reflect on how they have worked together since the previous Forum, and using the lessons identified from the last 4 years, participants were able to identify opportunities to maximize the contribution of WHO Collaborating Centres in countries to respond to current and future health challenges.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General, addressing participants via video message.

Can you help?

If any New Zealand medical laboratories have
items of diagnostic instrumentation that have been recently upgraded or
continue to be stored in the laboratory but are actually surplus to
requirements, the PPTC would be most grateful if such items could be donated
through its Centre to Pacific Island laboratories where there is an exceptional
need. Pacific laboratories have very restricted budgets and often cannot afford
to replace troublesome instrumentation that continues to breakdown and which is
often discontinued because it is so outdated.

The PPTC would also welcome teaching resources in terms of wall charts, Haematology case studies (stained blood films), projector slides, textbooks and journals (within 10 yrs of publication) etc , for teaching purposes in the Pacific, if you no longer have a use for them. Any contribution is so valuable to us.

Please
contact:

Phil Wakem
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Pathology Training Centre
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: pptc @ pptc.org.nz or phil @ pptc.org.nz