Professor Aj Rane leads Australian doctors in humanitarian trip to Bangladesh

A renowned North Queensland doctor is gearing up for another overseas humanitarian expedition with a focus on gender-based genital violence. Read why.

Professor Aj Rane.

Australians spend more money on their pets than Bangladesh spends on healthcare, says Townsville’s Professor Ajay Rane, as he prepares for another medical humanitarian trip to South Asia

Professor Rane will lead a contingent of Australian doctors to Bangladesh, departing on Friday.

The six doctors will lug 150 kilograms of equipment for a nine-day trip to the capital city Dhaka, Chittagong, and a refugee camp for Rohingyas Muslims, near the Myanmar border.

The doctors would be specifically looking to treat gender-based genital violence, which Professor Rane said was highly under-reported and closely associated with conflict and refugee camps.

The group will also take a $12,000 urodynamics machine; a device that uses water and highly sensitive tubes to detect bladder issues.

Professor Aj Rane.

Tellingly, urodynamics machines had been in Australia for 60-70 years, Professor Rane said, but this machine would be the first ever in Bangladesh, a country of 160 million.

“It’s technology that we take for granted in the west and it’s a wonderful tool to help diagnose problems of the urethra and bladder.”

“In Bangladesh, this changes lives.”

WorldBank data shows in 2019, Bangladesh health expenditure was USD$45.86 per capita.

A 2021 survey from Animal Medicines Australia found the average dog owner spent $3,200 a year on their pet, and the average cat owner spent $2,100.

Doing the “daunting” and “harrowing” humanitarian work in refugee camps, Professor Rane said it was important to not go with an elitist attitude: “We don’t want to go as knights in shining armour”.

“You really don’t want them to feel like you are taking over.”

The Professor is doing the work under the banner of his foundation, Flourishing Women, with funding from the combined Rotary clubs of north Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Professor Rane has been doing work overseas for more than 25 years. While he is taking three young doctors to Bangladesh to train the next generation, he had no plans on slowing down.

“I’ve got another 10 years in me.”

Professor Rane founded the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University’s School of Medicine.

Originally published as Professor Aj Rane leads Australian doctors in humanitarian trip to Bangladesh