General News from Solomon Islands

International phone, fax, and Internet (e-mail) connections with Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Nauru, French Polynesia, and Kiribati are presently restricted or unavailable because of a fault aboard Intelsat satellite 804. The problem, which allegedly started on January 15, also affects some national services in Solomon Islands.

International phone, fax, and Internet (e-mail) communications with Solomon Islands (and other Pacific Island countries) have been restored by using other satellites. As capacity may not yet be at the level it was before, connections may take a bit longer and busy signals may be more frequent, but after a few days everything should be back to normal.

On January 20, only Tuvalu and Tokelau were still completely cut off.

The first modern supermarket in Gizo has opened its doors yesterday. It is located on the ground floor of a new two storey building.

The capital of the Temotu Province, Lata, suffers from a severe water shortage. The water supply situation has been bad since the year 2000, but now it is said to be worse than ever. Lata Hospital may have to close, if the situation does not improve.

Today, the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) introduced new 50-Dollar and 10-Dollar banknotes with improved security features. The most prominent is the addition of a hologram on the front of the 50-Dollar notes. Other security features on both notes are the national flag on the front of the notes, an embedded silver thread, and two watermarks showing the head of an eagle and the CBSI initials. The metal thread and watermarks were already present on the old 50-Dollar notes introduced in 2001.

Last Sunday CBSI had cautioned the public against counterfeit (color photocopied) 50-Dollar notes circulating in Honiara and possible the provinces. At the same time, the bank also advised to deposit money in one of the commercial banks instead of hiding or burying it.

A new building complex including a market facility was opened in Lata, the capital of Temotu Province, today. Until now, market produce was sold under trees around Lata. The complex worth more than SBD 170,000 was funded by the Australian Community Support Program (CSP) and Temotu Province.

The reasons for the shortage are:

• There has been very little rain in the past weeks.
• The water supply was built around 1970 for a population of about 1,500, now there are about 7,000 people living in the area.
• There are not enough water storage tanks.
• Most of the water needs to be pumped. The pump needs diesel fuel, which is expensive. Currently the province cannot afford more than 11 barrels a month.
• For years the government has promised to help improve the situation, but nothing has been done yet.

All government workers will get a pay increase of 2.5% as of January 1, 2005. Doctors, nurses, and government department workers will receive their increase tomorrow, police officers and teachers will get it next week.

Health Services

A Bellona health worker has pointed out that there is no operational clinic on Bellona. Nuku Clinic is still closed after 3 or 4 years, and two other health buildings have yet to be completed. Another problem he mentioned is that nurses often leave (e.g. go on holiday) without arranging for a replacement, as a result there is presently no registered nurse on Bellona. This means urgent cases have to be brought (flown) to NRH in Honiara, which eats up a lot of the provincial funds for health services. The health worker calls on the Renbel (Rennell-Bellona) Provincial Government to reopen the Nuku Clinic, and on the Ministry of Health to better monitor their workforce and arrange for a doctor to regularly visit Bellona to help cut down the number of referrals to NRH.

E-mail access at Gizo Hospital is currently out of order.

The only nurse aid on the Ontong Java Atoll in the very north of the Malaita Province is also helping neighbors from the nearby Tasman Islands (or Nukumanu Atoll), which belong to Papua New Guinea. Although he just has a minimum of supplies, he is treating people from the Tasmans who are brought over to the Pelau Clinic, or even crosses the open sea (about 40km)in an outboard motor canoe to attend to serious cases on the Tasmans. He appeals to the Papua New Guinea Government to pay more attention to the needs of their people on the atoll, who are without a health worker or regular medical supplies for many years.

There are strong cultural and family links between the two atolls.

Taiwan has donated dental equipment worth nearly SBD 250,000 to the Dental Department of the National Referral Hospital in Honiara.

The equipment was brought by a group of five dental doctors of Taiwan's Dental Association, who had come to Honiara last Friday to offer three days volunteer service to the public at the Dental Clinic of NRH and to promote preventive oral health.

A local company, Waken Marketing Limited, has donated five tons of fish to the patients at NRH and the prisoners at Rove Prison in Honiara.

The death of a three year old girl is attributed to the poor medical services on Bellona. Her parents had searched for a nurse to help their child and finally found a retired nurse who attended to the child in her own home. However, despite her attempts, she was not able to save the child, who is said to have reached a critical stage of chronic pneumonia.

Bellona has no operational clinic and very limited medical supplies.

NRH surgeon Dr Rooney Jagilly was invited by the "Stiftung für Gastroenterologische Chirurgie Davos" (Foundation for Gastroenterologic Surgery Davos) to attend the International Gastrointestinal Surgery Workshop in Davos, Switzerland, from February 26 to March 4, 2005, and will subsequently work in the Departmernt of Surgery at the Children's Hospital in Luzern for a few weeks. Travel costs and accommodation are covered by the Association "South Pacific Medical Projects".

The annual two week regional medical equipment maintenance training workshop started in Honiara today. The fifth and final course is part of the Medical Equipment Maintenance Project in the Pacific (MEMPP). The project was started in 2000, after visiting surgical teams were always frustrated by the state of the medical equipment in Pacific Islands hospitals. The project is managed by Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and funded by AusAID. The first four courses were conducted in Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. The project ends in April 2005, but participants have asked Australia to extend it, as new medical equipment keeps coming in all the time requiring additional know-how and skills to maintain and repair.

Five participants are from NRH's Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Section of the Maintenance Department, other participants come from various Pacific Islands countries like Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Fiji.

This year's workshop includes training on organizational topics, preventive maintenance, and troubleshooting and repairing all sorts of hospital equipment.

Australia spent about AUD 3.5 million on the project, which, apart from assistance and training, also included the establishment of a regional help desk office; close to AUD 470,000 were spent on repair and maintenance tools and equipment, spare parts, and documentation.

NRH has been without an ultrasound scanner since August 2004. The secondhand machine was purchased overseas a few years ago and had reached its end of life.

Therefore, patients who need ultrasound checks (many of them women) have to be sent to private clinics for scanning, something only patients with enough money can afford.

Meanwhile NRH has purchased another secondhand scanner in the United States for about SBD 100,000. It arrived last week, but unfortunately the keyboard was damaged during the transport. According to maintenance staff, it might take weeks to get the machine repaired.

Much of the equipment at NRH is either donated by overseas hospitals or purchased secondhand from overseas. Most new medical equipment is simply too expensive to buy, unless funds are made available through aid donors.

But, according to an officer at the NRH maintenance department, some of this used equipment does not work well or not at all when it arrives (as e.g. the ultrasound scanner mentioned above), or due to its age breaks down frequently and needs repairs. Spare parts are often expensive and difficult to procure and repairs take time, so at least in some cases the merit of purchasing used equipment may be questionable.

The "Solomon Star" reports having seen several recently purchased but non-functioning equipment sitting on a shelf in the NRH warehouse.

Some doctors who left Solomon Islands in the past years and about half of the 15 doctors who graduated two years ago and have completed their residency, have returned to Solomon Islands to take up work in different hospitals, and more may soon follow. The improved working conditions for doctors, now similar to the ones in other countries in the region, and the return of law and order have made it more attractive for Solomon Islanders to work in their own country again.

According to an article in the "Solomon Star", about 30 doctors have been (and at least some of them probably still are) working overseas, most of them in Australia and New Zealand, and a few in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

E-mail access at Gizo Hospital is working again.

WHO will continue to support the health sector in Solomon Islands and provide SBD 9 million (USD 1.2 million) during the next two years.

Five members of the North Balwyn Rotary Club, Victoria, Australia, have visited Tulagi Hospital to discuss the support of projects requested by the Friends of Tulagi Hospital Committee. The Roatrians will later report their findings to the international board for approval. The projects, amounting to a total of SBD 1.5 million, include the construction of a hospital kitchen, a fence around the hospital compound, sanitation and sewerage, a standby generator, hospital beautification and water tanks and will be implemented in several phases. If the projects are approved, implementation of the first phase is expected to start in a few months.

A team from two Rotary Clubs from Queensland, Australia, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Gizo, has refurbished and upgraded the outpatient department of Gizo Hospital during the last two weeks. The newly renovated wing was officially handed over yesterday and provides more room for doctors, nurses, and patients.

Clinics and the hospital in Honiara report a large number of patients with flu like symptoms: fever, headache, cough, sore throat and running nose. Most patients have been tested for malaria but with negative results. Honiara residents are advised to take extra care, keep warm during the rainy season, and not to allow children to play in the rain.

Ten local nurses (five male and five female), mostly from institutions in Honiara or Guadalcanal Province, get trained in a two day workshop in Honiara to counsel men before and after vasectomy.

The reason for this workshop is the recent availability of 10 instrument sets to perform no-scalpel vasectomy or NSV. The sets were donated to the Ministry of Health by the UN Family Planning Association and the New Zealand Family Planning Association International Development.

Four local doctors have learnt how to do vasectomies during their training in Papua New Guinea, but could not perform the simple operations in Solomon Islands, because the necessary instruments were not available.

Later, doctors and nurses in other provinces will be trained to use these sets, too.

The revised scheme of service for doctors and dentists, which was approved by the Public Service Department last December, was signed by government officials and the president of the Solomon Islands Medical Association (SIMA) today. Now, the new scheme, which provides for better remuneration and improved conditions of employment, can finally be implemented.

Hopefully, this will attract more Solomon Islands doctors working abroad to return home. Currently there are still 108 open positions for doctors and dentists in Solomon Islands.

According to Dr George Malefoasi, a member of the National Aids Council, there are at least six confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS in Solomon Islands and up to 60 persons could possibly be infected. Using WHO estimates, the number of cases could climb to more than 350 cases by 2010.

TB in Solomon Islands ist still increasing: 340 new and relapse cases were recorded last year, 32% more than the 256 cases recorded in 2002.

Provinces with the highest notification rates (number of recorded cases per capita) are: Temotu, Malaita and Honiara-City.

Chief Surgeon at NRH, Dr Chester Kuma, says drugs are a big concern in the country today, especially so the illegally home-brewed alcohol, Kwaso. Whereas normal, locally available beer contains between four and seven percent alcohol, Kwaso often consists of almost pure alcohol, which destroys the liver and other parts of the body within a short time.

Dr Kuma confirmed to have carried out post-mortems on young people who died from drinking Kwaso.

The new Gwaiau Clinic in the highlands of North Malaita was officially opened today. It serves six communities and about two thousand people and saves them a four to five hour walk to the main road to the nearest health center in Malu'u.

The community initiated project was funded by AusAID as part of the Community Sector Program, CSP. It cost about SBD 60'000.

Some 25 students from Solomon Islands have graduated from the medical school at the University of Papua New Guninea (UPNG) last Friday.

NRH reports an increasing number of dysentery cases. Patients are mostly adults and come from settlements on the outskirts of Honiara. One man in his early forties died from the illness in the hospital yesterday.

People are advised to boil their drinking water, if they have any doubts about its quality, and seek medical attendance early, if they suffer from diarrhoea.

15 nurses (eight male and seven female) from all over Solomon Islands have received their nursing diplomas from Atoifi Adventist College of Nursing last weekend, after they successfully completed their three-year training.

Another new clinic was recently opened in Fo'ondo, located on the west coast of North Malaita. The project was funded under the European Union's micro-project program and altogether took about three years to complete. The clinic will serve around 6,000 people.

Solomon Islands is one of five Pacific countries selected by Taiwan to participate in and benefit from a hospital exchange program. The other countries are Palau, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Marshall Islands.

Japan has donated cold chain equipment worth SBD 2,300,000 for the Extended Program on Immunization (EPI). It comprises everything needed to keep vaccines cool: electro-gas vaccine fridges, electro-gas icepack freezers, gas cylinders, conversion to LP gas fittings, vaccine carriers, ice packs, solar systems, clinic radio sets, cold-chain refrigerators, incinerators, syringes, and fridge repair tool kits.

This will allow to take up the full immunization programs in remote parts of Solomon Islands again, which had dropped due to the lack of operational equipment to keep the vaccines cool.

Last Tuesday a new clinic in Baolo village on the north coast of Isabel was officially opened. The new clinic building together with two new staff houses were funded by the European Union in 2001. The construction of the clinic comprising an outpatient clinic, male and female wards, maternity, pharmacy and a sterilisation room was completed in December 2004.

Buala Hospital (Isabel Province) received an optical machine from the Church of England Diocese of Chester. No further details about the type of equipment are known, but Hospital Director Dr David Danitofea was very happy about the gift for the people of Isabel, especially so, because a visit by the eye department from NRH in Honiara is planned in September 2005.

Japan has helped the School of Nursing and Health at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) in Honiara with more than SBD 235,000 to refurbish the buildings and buy new equipment. The Japanese Chargé d'Affaires to Solomon Islands officially handed over the renovated buildings and the equipment today.

The renewed National Medical Store (NMS) was officially reopened last Friday. During the past 12 months the warehouse was refurbished, new equipment was purchased, and a new computer system with mSupply software was installed to handle the purchasing and distrubution of medical supplies. AusAID, the Health Institutional Strengthening Project (HISP), and the Ministry of Health invested more than SBD 1.2 million in this project.

When the project was first outlined in a workshop in late 2001 with completion envisioned for 2005, nobody really believed this would be achievable in this time frame.

Yesterday, 43 nurses have received their Registered Nurse certificates from the School of Nursing at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE). More than half of them will work at NRH, the others will work in their respective provinces.

For months, Lata Hospital in the Temotu Province has suffered from theft of property worth thousands of dollars: cash, solar panels, an outboard motor, fuel and other items. However, no arrests were made and break-ins and robberies continued. Finally, a large amount of building materials for the new maternity and children's wards was stolen last week.

To make people aware of the situation and encourage the reporting of relevant observations, Director of Temotu Health and Medical Services, Dr Gunter Kittel, decided to close the general outpatient department for two days and admit emergency cases only, unless the stolen goods were returned.

The result after two days: no stolen goods were returned (yet), but a suspect has been reported and is now under police investigation.

The Minister of Health, Benjamin Una, has warned government doctors not to engage in private consultations during their working hours and neglect their normal duties, or else they should resign. In a recent letter to the editors of the Solomon Star newspaper it was claimed some doctors were spending up to five hours a day (about 70% of their working time) on private consultations. Treating private patients during working hours was tolerated by the Ministry of Health when the government was not able to pay the doctors at all or at least not in time. The Minister of Health also said, that some doctors who had left public service were still residing in state houses and they should vacate them immediately.

According to the Solomon Islands Medical Association (SIMA) about 3% of the government employed doctors in Honiara are also engaged in private practice in Honiara, which the new doctors scheme of service allows them to do during their free time. SIMA is concerned about the allegations and asks the Ministry of Health to start an investigation of this issue and to discipline those who do not follow the rules.

The Chairman of the Leadership Code Commission, Emmanuel Kouhota, says every government doctor (and every other public officer) who wants to engage in private practice, is required by law to get a permit from the Commission and the Public Service Department, otherwise he or she is acting illegally. The new Scheme of Service is just an agreement and does not supersed the necessary individual permits.

Due to the ongoing shortage of water, most patients at Lata Hospital (Temotu Province) had to be sent home, as was predicted some time ago. Since Saturday evening only the seriously ill are allowed to stay at the hospital.

20.06.05 Hyperbaric medical facility in Solomon Islands [Source: Solomon Star]

Solomon Islands now has a hyperbaric medical facility to treat divers with decompression sickness. It is located in the privately owned "In the Zone Medical Center" run by Dr George Manimu in Honiara. The first patient was treated last weekend.

Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA) reports a dramatic increase in the number of sexually transmitted infections. In 2003 there were more than 700 people with infections in the country, and the number is increasing by about 400 a year. Honiara alone had 150 new cases in the first quarter of this year.

Malaita Province reports a noticable increase of infections in January and July each year. This seems to correlate with many people returning from urban centers to rural areas during the holiday periods.

Thanks to the resumption of residual spraying and combination treatments of patients, there were only about 67 cases of malaria recorded in Honiara in the first quarter of this year, compared to about 90 cases in the same period of 2004.

Director of the Vector Borne Disease Control Program, Bernard Bakote'e suggests the use of combination treatments of Chloroquine and Fansidar, because only about 60% of the patients can be cured with Chloroquine alone.

Since 1995, Honiara alone has an average of more than 120 new diabetes cases every year. People are advised to eat more local food , engage in daily exercise, and get a free blood test in a clinic or the Central Hospital. Otherwise the number of amputees will continue to rise.

Media and Reports

Two new books on our books page: "Birds of the southwest Pacific" by Ernst Mayr and "Birds of Northern Melanesia" by Ernst Mayr and Jared Diamond

Both were recommended by a recent visitor of Solomon Islands. Thank you!

A new report by Ernst Knellwolf: Reisebericht Kambodscha (available in German only)

Some information about Kirakira Hospital.

Two pictures taken at the International Gastrointestinal Surgery Workshop in Davos.

Some more pictures of Taro Hospital. They were sent by its former director, Dr Millar, who wrote: I hope these pics can convince someone to want to go and use the beautiful new facilities.

Two pictures taken at the aperitif after Dr Hermann Oberli's talk in Affoltern am Albis.

One new picture in our Picture Gallery 4 - People and two new pictures on our Telepathology / Telepathologie pages.

Another filled in questionnaire: MO0401.

Another filled in questionnaire: FS0501.

Doctors on tour, a report by Franziska Holenstein.

25.06.05 New on our web site

A new page: Gizo and what people write about it.

Feedback.