U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu Ann Marie Yastishock visited Port Moresby General Hospital and saw the work of U.S. Army doctors, nurses, and medical specialists who are sharing best practices, learning, and helping patients over the next 10 days as part of a U.S. Army surgical rotation. Members of the 135th Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachment, 65th Medical Brigade, arrived at Port Moresby General Hospital on April 8, 2024, and are working side-by-side with their Papua New Guinean medical peers for nearly a week and a half. The detachment consists of physicians, orthopaedic and general surgeons, various nursing specialists, and Army medics which included U.S. Army Lt. Col. Stephen Watt, an anaesthesiologist, and the acting detachment commander for the team from the 135th FRSD who said it was a privilege to serve the people of PNG. “We are all very excited to be here … we feel very privileged to serve and treat the people of Papua New Guinea.” “We’ve already been sharing knowledge, conducted some classes, (and) exchanged best practice information with them.” Port Moresby General Hospital and 18th U.S. Army Medical Command are currently working on establishing an agreement to extend the U.S. Army’s partnership with the hospital on a long-term basis. This surgical rotation was facilitated by the Defense Cooperation Agreement which was signed in May 2023 and ratified in August 2023. Ambassador Yastishock met members of the detachment who are helping make a difference in the lives of the South Pacific nation’s citizens. “I want to say a huge thank you for the tour and for allowing us to come in and meet your staff but also this opportunity to meet the team from the U.S. Army.” “I was very impressed with the areas of the hospital that we saw — the emergency room, the surgical unit, the ICU — and really just how well the staffs have been working side-by-side with each other.” “Not only working side-by-side but exchanging those important areas of medical services — that is really the whole point of this rotation.” The detachment rapidly integrated with the hospital’s staff while learning its processes and procedures in less one day. “We’ve been very impressed with the medical care we’ve seen from the medical staff here,” he said. Furthermore, the short amount of time the staff and his unit has spent together has already produced learning opportunities from both the Port Moresby General Hospital staff and the U.S. Army medical team. “We really appreciate the opportunity to observe the care that we’ve seen them provide to patients who have experienced conditions that we don’t traditionally see at our home hospital.” Meanwhile this is the second surgical rotation. The inaugural rotation took place in December 2023, less than six months after the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the governments of Papua New Guinea and the United States was ratified.