Mobile Surgical Services has been running for 10 years, having carried out its first operation on March 8, 2002, in Te Puia Springs, near Gisborne.
Yesterday, surgical bus staff joined patients and hospital staff at Clutha Health First to mark the service's latest milestone.
Mobile Surgical Services director Dr Stuart Gowland said the bus was about bringing day surgery back to the communities that lost that facility years ago.
Since the mobile surgical services began 10 years ago, 822 patients had undergone surgery in the bus while it had been in Balclutha.
Clinton teenager Zac Storer made his eighth visit to the surgical bus yesterday, and was given the honour of cutting a celebratory cake to share.
Yesterday marked 10 years exactly since Zac used the bus for the first time.
"I'm pretty used to it now, and it's good my dentist Graham can do the surgery here in Balclutha."
His father, Robert Storer, said the surgical bus meant the family did not have to travel to Dunedin for dental work.
"It's a lot faster, and a lot better for Zac."
Dental surgeon Graham York said, from a dental point of view, the bus provided a good system for locals to get the surgery they needed.
"We just come along here [to Clutha Health First]. It's a breeze."
Clutha Health First chief executive Ray Anton said the bus brought in the surgical services the community would otherwise miss out on.
The $5 million bus, which weighs close to 40 tonnes, visits rural areas of New Zealand on a five-week cycle providing more than 300 different elective surgery procedures, using the most advanced technology available.
Mobile Surgical Services has treated more than 14,000 patients in rural New Zealand, and delivered more than 35,000 hours of education since 2002.
