As a volunteer for an aid agency in Papua New Guinea, Minnamurra medico Dr Max Osborne had to get used to examining patients in front of an audience.
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Four or more friendly faces would peek in the open door of his makeshift consulting room; still more would watch on from the windows.
"These are people who don't see a medical team from one year to the next, and a doctor is certainly a novelty," Dr Osborne said.
"They're not trying to invade anyone's privacy; they're just curious to see what you are doing with the patient - and none of the patients ever seemed to mind."
Working in the tropical climate in remote areas of PNG for the past six months has been a challenge for the 65-year-old doctor, but it has also been the experience of a lifetime.
Having spent most of his career working in the accident and emergency departments of Shellharbour and Shoalhaven hospitals, a quiet retirement could have been on the cards.
Instead Dr Osborne signed on with PNG-focused medical charity Australian Doctors International (ADI) and soon found himself in the remotest parts of New Ireland province.
There he attended to more than 1350 patients who would otherwise have gone untreated - including many young children suffering with malaria.
"At one village I visited I saw 30 children - 15 of them were suffering malaria," Dr Osborne said.
"Most we were able to treat with medication, some we needed to organise transport back to the nearest health centre for admission - and that centre could be a two-hour boat trip and four-hour drive away.
"Treatment for malaria has moved ahead in leaps and bounds, although there is still a high prevalence and one child did succumb to the disease."
Dr Osborne was based in the main town of Kavieng but every fortnight would join a team of volunteer health professionals to travel by boat to isolated villages.
"The ADI team would include dentists, physiotherapists, nurses with expertise in sexually transmissible infections and other specialities, so that we could address a range of health issues," he said.
"In the tropical heat it was often physically demanding work, and it was frustrating seeing people with conditions that they wouldn't have to put up with in Australia.
"But the reward was how happy the people were to see you, how much they appreciated that you had come."
Dr Osborne is encouraging others to volunteer their time, or donate to the charity. For more details visit adi.org.au.