Savo Health care centre without toilets or electricity and in danger of complete collapse due to white ants.
The Panueli Health Centre on Savo continues against all odds to serve the health care needs of a growing population now exceeding 4000.
The health centre is dilapidated, infested with white ants, as no toilet facilities or electricity.
It says volumes for the dedication of the only resident nurse Emmy Kopui that the centre still keeps going.
The centre has just two beds, little by way of furniture and lacks even chairs and a table.
For those needing urgent medical attention in Honiara sick and injured patients need to be conveyed by boat – a sea crossing taking at least one hour.
I have appealed for help for the Panueli health centre on several occasions and even solicited an appeal for help to the Canadian Government by way of the ‘Canada Fund.’
Local community leaders on Savo submitted a funding request to the Canadian Government supporting with a self-help re-building plan in 2017 and in 2018.
The appeal was not successful and I received a reply from the Canadian representative of the ‘Canada Fund,” in 2017 saying, quote.
“This year the CFLI received more than double the applications from last year, and as such, it was a highly competitive process to pick projects from such a large pool. Although your project did address the key priorities and addressed the broader CFLI framework, our fiscal restrictions meant that we simply were unable to fund all worthy applications. I sincerely apologise for this, and hope that you may consider re-applying next year.”
The ongoing situation at the Panueli health centre is not something that can any longer be swept under the carpet and a situation ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ I respectfully have to comment.
I will do whatever I can through my partner charity in New Zealand, ‘Take My Hands,’ to try and get some furniture for the centre but I have the idea the building is so far gone because of the white ant problem it needs replacing before extra beds and furniture can be sent.
I again turn to my previous idea that a possible solution could be the provision of one or more 40 foot shipping containers that could be converted into use as a practical clinic. At least using a container would prevent white ant issues.
Please will some donor partner, some well meaning charity organization, or some successful business organization help the long-suffering Savo community get the health care facility they have done without for so long and which in terms of their fundamental human rights to health care they should have?
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
