Often when people think of the locations where Interplast teams travel to, when delivering surgical and training programs, ‘the tropics’ come to mind – warm, humid weather, big bustling Asian cities, or palm tree-fringed beaches. And rightly so – most of our partner countries do fall within this type of climate.

But not all. Recently, an Interplast team visited Mongolia to conduct a needs assessment to the remote town of Murun, which is located 700 kilometres from the capital Ulaanbaatar, and serviced by flights, but not in winter! This meant that the team had to travel by road for 13 hours in an ex-Russian military van – a very long, bumpy ride, even with the stunning scenery. During the day it was around -15 degrees celsius, dropping to almost -30 at night.

The team, anaesthetist David Pescod and nurse Leonie Simmons, were there with the Western Australia Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan and his team, as part of the Bright Blue Fund for Sick Kids’ Mongolia project, which includes supporting Interplast activities in Mongolia.