So, somehow, I ended up in Pohnpei, one of the 4 states of
Micronesia, for 3 weeks in August. In the last year of medical school,
my school gave us 12 weeks to plan our local and overseas electives. I
wanted to do a posting in a rural, developing island for the scenic
views and to experience a very different healthcare system. Originally, I
wanted to go to the Cook Islands, but they were full for the period I
requested, so my friend and I emailed many many other hospitals in
similar places and the doctor from Pohnpei responded so that's how we
ended up here, in a place most would not even have heard of before.
Our route there was long and complicated. We took Qantas to Brisbane, then Air Niugini to Papua New Guinea for a stopover of 6h then Air Niugini to Pohnpei via Chuuk. 3 flights over 24h. There is a shorter route to PNG from Singapore directly but the timings meant that we'd have to spend a night in PNG, which I didn't want to.