“To hold a baby while it dies when it would be fine here [in Australia] was just awful,” Dr Salisbury said.

Departing last July, the Canning Street Surgery doctor spent 12 months as the only obstetrician in the Maela Refugee Camp.

The camp was inhabited by about 45,000 people, mostly comprised of Myanmar’s persecuted Karen minority.

Working for the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Dr Salisbury was placed in charge of maternity at the camp’s child health unit and headed a team of about 30 Karen midwives who trained through the same organisation.

When the facilities at the refugee camp were not suitable for a case’s procedure, Dr Salisbury had to refer the case to the hospital in Mae Sot, Thailand - an hour’s drive away.

However, as her organisation was poorly resourced she had to pick and choose carefully about which cases to send to the hospital, decisions that proved “heart-wrenching”.

For instance, there was no Caesarean section at the refugee camp so those cases were referred to Mae Sot, but there was no funding to send prematurely born babies to the hospital as well.

As conflict in the Karen’s region has been continuing for years, refugees have lived at the Maela Refugee Camp for generations - Dr Salisbury said she delivered the babies of women born in the camp.

There was an average of 10 refugees in each household in the camp, and the household often consisted of only one room.

This meant there was an overcrowding of people and diseases, with many cases of tuberculosis and dengue fever.

“We lost a pregnant woman to swine flu last year,” Dr Salisbury said.

“A thing you can just treat here.”

Unsafe abortions were also a problem, and Dr Salisbury was often brought women who had undergone the procedure.

While the doctor lived in Mae Sot, she would also occasionally sleep in the refugee camp.

One night each week she would download a movie onto a thumb drive, put up a screen in the camp and hold a movie night for the refugees, showing Disney films and providing popcorn.

Life at the camp was also physically challenging for Dr Salisbury.

When sleeping at Maela her bed was a mat on a wooden slat and, while there was air conditioning in the operating room, there was none in the rooms for tasks such as deliveries.

“The midwives would see sweat pouring down my face and put a fan on me,” she said.

Dr Salisbury was proud of the family planning project she started this trip, which aimed to help educate women about contraception.

She returned to work at Canning Street Surgery two weeks ago and said the year abroad went too quickly.

“It was the most amazing, fabulous experience I’ve ever had, on so many levels,” she said.

“First of all, I went to get some humbleness and gratitude in my life as it is easy to lose that in the day-to-day lives we have.

“I got that, and so much more.”