Australian Defence Force Medical teams in Banda Aceh will soon return home to Australia following the staged transition of medical support to civilian medical practitioners, Defence Minister Robert Hill announced today.

Senator Hill said ANZAC medical staff and the Banda Aceh Public Hospital will reach a milestone today when Indonesian staff resume full control of the hospital’s Infectious Diseases Ward.

The ANZAC Field Hospital was established as a part of the Banda Aceh Public Hospital in the first week of January to run the Surgical and Infectious Diseases Wards while the hospital’s Indonesian staff gradually returned to work.

Prior to the tsunami, the facility had functioned as the city’s largest public hospital and medical training college. The tsunami resulted in massive losses among hospital staff as well as significant damage to the facility, requiring a massive clean-up that is still underway.

Senator Hill said the hospital had undergone dramatic improvements over the past month.

"The fact that we’re handing a fully capable infectious diseases ward back to the Indonesian hospital administration today is really testament to how far we’ve come," Senator Hill said.

"Great advances have been made in re-establishing medical services and facilities for the people of Band Aceh.

"The Australian military medical teams, in conjunction with New Zealand Defence Force personnel, have worked tirelessly in difficult conditions from the first day they arrived in the tsunami-devastated island of Sumatra.

"Their first challenge was to provide immediate health care by performing life-saving operations and preventing the outbreak of disease, which they have achieved with outstanding results.

"Now that the post-tsunami health care situation has stabilized it is more appropriate for civilian medical practitioners to be responsible for the everyday health care needs of the people of Banda Aceh.

"Commercial contracts for the provision of primary health care in Banda Aceh have been established by AusAID as part of Australia’s broader aid package for the people of Indonesia. Significantly, about half of the medical teams will be staffed by Indonesian practitioners with the balance coming from Australia. The full transition should be completed in the next few weeks.

The Director of the Banda Aceh Public Hospital, Dr Rus Munandar, said today’s hand-over marked an important moment for the hospital and the people of Aceh.

"Local people need the skills of our hospital staff and this should encourage more nurses and doctors who survived the tsunami to return to work," he said.

The ANZAC Field Hospital has performed over 3,300 medical treatments, including many surgical procedures that included limb amputations necessary to save lives. The hospital provided a broad range of medical services including GP consultations, inpatient care, surgery, intensive care, obstetrics, limited X-ray and pathology support and public health support. Personnel were drawn from the regular and reserve services of the ADF

Recovery operations in Sumatra are well advanced and over the succeeding weeks, further ADF elements will return to Australia as Indonesia and other government and non-government organisations assume greater roles in providing reconstruction and infrastructure support to those affected by the tsunami.