Helping hands: Mater Mothers Hospital: Columban Fr Robert McCulloch (second right), and St Elizabeth Hospital’s Administrator Eric Siraj meet Mater newborn Armani-Rose Richards with (left) Mater Director of Clinical Governance Dr Christine Foley and Mater Mother’s Hospital General Manager Kerri Gane.
MATER are partnering with a Catholic hospital in Pakistan to provide world-class training for healthcare workers facing immediate needs in cancer treatment and maternal care.
St Elizabeth Hospital board member Columban Fr Robert McCulloch said Pakistan spent less than one per cent of its GDP on healthcare, most of which went towards larger provincial cities.
That was where hospitals like St Elizabeth in Hyderabad stepped in and, with the support of Mater, addressed shortages in oncology and mother/child care.
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch visited Mater’s South Brisbane hospital campus earlier this year to sign the partnership’s Letter of Intent with Mater chief medical officer Professor Chris Pyke.
Prof Pyke said the partnership demonstrated that Mater’s Mission stretched beyond Queensland and Australia.
“Mater’s purpose is to meet unmet community healthcare needs, providing compassionate care to those who need it most,” he said.
“Mater clinicians are passionately committed to supporting our colleagues at St Elizabeth Hospital in delivering the best possible care to the communities they serve.”
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch said the partnership would support sustainable local capability, quality improvement and patient-centred care.
“The purpose of this collaboration is to establish a clinical quality collaboration network through which Mater will provide professional mentoring, advisory support, and guidance to St Elizabeth to assist with the adoption and strengthening of best-practice clinical standards,” he said.
The partnership aims to see St Elizabeth clinicians travelling to Queensland to gain experience in Mater’s leading hospital services.
“We plan to link with Mater Hospital Brisbane for its Pastoral Skills Course facilitated by Rev David Baker and others when this comes online.”
St Elizabeth College of Nursing, which already has a School of Midwifery and an Institute of Allied Health Sciences, would commence a Bachelor of Nursing in October 2026.
St Elizabeth specialises in maternity care, palliative care and the provision of free outreach medical services in rural areas.
Regular remote meetings between Mater clinicians and St Elizabeth staff have already brought benefits to patients in Hyderabad, such as a reduction in unnecessary caesarean deliveries and an increase in low-risk natural births.
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch said the collaboration was a significant link and engagement between Catholic Health in Australia and Pakistan and had been recognised as such by the Australian High Commission in Islamabad and Pakistani diplomatic representatives.
Source: By Georgia Whiteley - Catholic Leader Brisbane 18 March 2026 on the links between St Elizabeth Hospital Hyderabad and Mater Hospital Brisbane
