Modular building to replace the former Rehabilitation Workshop at the NRH has arrived in Honiara
A 20 foot modular building to replace the previous Rehabilitation Workshop at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) has arrived at the Honiara Port aboard a container vessel and clearance work is going ahead to see the building delivered to the NRH next week.
The gifted replacement workshop follows a local appeal which was acknowledged by the President and the Executive Committee of the Solomons Forest Association (FSA)
The former workshop at the NRH, which had to be demolished due to white ant infestation, previously was used to manufacture artificial limbs for patients at the hospital that suffered from diabetes and had a leg removed during surgery.
It has been estimated there are more than 400 former NRH patients still needing an artificial leg to give them the mobility they have been awaiting for many years.
It is my hope that once the new building is delivered to the NRH the workshop will become functional quickly and the process of making prosthetics begin again.
It is my understanding that at least two Solomon Islanders went to India in the past to receive training in artificial limb manufacture and I very much hope they will soon be re-engaged to do their important work.
My partner charity in New Zealand, ‘Take My Hands,’ has close association with limbless organizations in New Zealand and stands ready to aid the NRH with any advice or with manufacturing equipment and tools the NRH might now be needing to get the replacement building operational as soon as possible.
The modular building follows the supply of 300 metal crutches the SFA gave to the hospital and provincial hospitals as a result of an earlier appeal just a couple of months ago.
I extend my thanks and appreciation to the SFA for positively responded to my appeals in such a generous and considerate way in respect of aiding the less fortunate in the Solomon Islands community.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
