Fears of a post-tsunami disease explosion in Indonesia prompted the influx of huge medical resources, but with no sign of epidemic, a surfeit of foreign doctors is now struggling to find patients as hospital beds lie empty.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, medical facilities that survived were inundated with casualties as what remained of the traumatised staff tended to injuries and sickness with limited equipment and medicine.
Horrific scenes of hospital corridors lined with sick and wounded and concerns that tropical dangers like malaria, dengue and typhoid could spread like wildfire resulted in many nations mobilising teams of doctors.
In the absence of major outbreaks and with most tsunami maladies limited to wounds or fractures that have now been treated, doctor caseloads have fallen sharply, but foreign medics continue to pour into stricken Aceh province.
On February 5, the USNS Mercy – a 1,000-bed US navy hospital ship stationed at San Diego, California – arrived off the province's coast to join the relief effort. In a week of activity, it has admitted just 68 patients.
"To be honest, there's more than enough foreign doctors here now," said Fauzi Arief, a senior army physician at the Kesdam military hospital in the devastated provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
"The problem is now under control, although we do welcome the foreigners because they want to participate. But what we really need most now is medical equipment, particularly lab gear and resources." With no emergencies to tend to, foreign teams from countries including Australia, Germany, Japan and Malaysia have found themselves mainly engaged in vaccination missions and the treatment of common ailments.
"We were expecting that patients would still have wounds from the tsunami, but that was only for a few days," said Lieutenant Colonel Walter Schmidt, spokesman for a 30-doctor German medical team based at Banda Aceh's battered Zainoel Abidin hospital.
"Now we have a lot of patients that come to us just to know if they are sick or not with every little problem. So as far as I understand, there are no major outbreaks of disease or sickness from the tsunami." Aceh's citizens have been quick to seize on the unexpected glut of highly qualified physicians that has now built up in their province.
"People come here because they have confidence in the German doctors. We're pretty sure a lot of patients are visiting first Indonesian doctors and then the foreign ones to get a second and maybe even third opinion," said Schmidt.
Patients too say they have more faith in the visiting medics than Indonesian doctors and are more than happy to take advantage of trusted overseas expertise.
"I went to see an Indonesian doctor at a hospital here. I didn't feel better at all and haven't made any kind of recovery, so I came to see the Germans," said Zulfiki, a 51-year-old teacher treated for a deep gash on his right foot.
Government official Rinalsyah Budiman Hasan was also consulting foreign doctors at the Zainoel Abidin in the hope of receiving expert treatment for lymphatic cancer.
"Before the tsunami I had to pay for a trip to Malaysia to see a specialist, there was no one in Aceh who could handle my condition," he said.
"As I can no longer afford a trip overseas, I decided to take advantage of the foreign doctors here for some free treatment. I saw a Swedish doctor yesterday and they referred me to the Australians here. For me, at least there has been one lucky event from the tsunami."
Eigil Sorensen, the UN World Health Organisation's special envoy to Aceh, said that while medical assistance was still needed, the main focus was now rebuilding destroyed facilities and training new staff to replace those lost.
"We need mainly commitment in terms of both human resource organisation, gradually getting local doctors back to work and at the same time trying to train people," he told AFP.
"I expect that some kind of assistance will be required, working with local partners, cooperating in the initial phase," he said, adding that outside help may be needed for up to 12 months.
Despite the ongoing needs, some consider the presence of the Mercy – a former supertanker equipped with 12 operating rooms, four X-ray suites and capable of receiving 300 patients daily – as excessive. "In my opinion, the Mercy is too big. There is no need for it," said Germany's Schmidt.