If you want to practise medicine in one of the most remote places on Earth, it can come at a cost — and Dr John Cherry has the scar to prove it.

Since the 1950s, doctors working in Antarctica during winter have been required to have their appendix removed before heading south, according to the Australian Antarctic Program website.

As a result, Dr Cherry underwent a prophylactic laparoscopic appendicectomy the year before becoming the sole doctor over winter at Davis station in 2021.

But happily, the rural generalist and Antarctic doctor says the surgery was not too onerous.