Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, like many institutions, receives many requests from developing countries for training. There are two issues I seek advice about.
1. Would there be merit in establishing a central register of those who wish to access training in child health professions, together with institutions which are prepared to take them? And how best to find appropriate funding? Or are we stuck with personal introductions and ad hoc funding mechanisms?
2. The "appropriateness" of training in western institutions for developing country trainees, can sometimes be questioned. In my specialty of gastroenterology, the demand is often for technical training in endoscopy rather than thinking about the big clinical problems. How should western institutions respond to such requests?