Tonga Tonga The island nation officially known as the Kingdom of Tonga is comprised of 176 islands, spanning an area of some 700,000 square kilometres. The official population is just over 100,000, with an estimated additional 100,000 living overseas, primarily in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Subsistence farming is the primary livelihood of most Tongans, and economically the country relies on the process of remittances, otherwise understood as family members overseas sending money home, and a dependency on foreign aid. Open Heart International has a special affinity and affection for Tonga, being the country of its first project. Cardiac Surgery in Tonga A cardiac team visited Tonga in 1986, and then again in 1987. With such a small population, it isn’t feasible or realistic that Tonga will establish its owncardiac surgery services. Tonga will likely remain reliant on support from overseas teams’ contributions or for patients to travel overseas to receive treatment. Our project was re-established in 2008 with the intention of managing the wait list ofcardiac surgery in Tonga. During two subsequent visits, the waiting list was cleared and our success was that there were no operable cases in the country. At the moment a bi-annual visit to Tonga keeps the waiting list at a minimum and alternate arrangements are made by the Tongan Ministry of Health for any emergency cases. OHI are proud to be involved in medical missions and medical humanitarian aid in 3rd world locations such as Tonga. What does health related humanitarian aid in Tonga provide? Each of ourinternational surgical missionsin third world regions such as Tonga offer professional medical attention for patients who sadly are unable to obtain specialised medical services because of the limited health system. Just how do international medical charities in Tonga help local residents? The key objective of worldwide humanitarian non profit organisations like OHI is always to help save lives as well as alleviate the anguish of the locals while maintaining their dignity. Moreover, our professional medical mercy missions to Tonga provide education and aid for the local area doctors whilst assisting to relieve stress on the local community health system. This is achieved by lessening substantial waiting lists for specialty surgical procedures that include cardiac and heart surgery. Health related charity volunteers in Tonga Our surgery and non-surgical volunteers work tirelessly to provide guidance in addition to teaching for community professional medical workers whilst assisting the community’s medical staff to deliver better heath care treatment in the area. Do children in Tonga receive healthcare assistance through the mercy missions? Yes, our foreign surgery volunteers provide medical help to everyone – infants, children, men and women. Our Projects In Tonga Photo Gallery Video Playlist James' Story https://youtube.com/watch?v=yDOneZTtCAI Project Overview https://youtube.com/watch?v=eNXRUrmolJw
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