General News from Solomon Islands

Solomon Airlines Embraer E-170 jet plane was grounded in Brisbane last Friday, due to nonpayment of the leasing fee by the financially troubled airline. This brought international flights between Brisbane and Honiara and Nadi (Fiji) and Honiara to a halt. The plane was leased from the Australian SkyAirWorld for a period of three years beginning in May this year.

According to Solomon Airlines, flights have resumed today with a Boeing 737-200 operated by Australian charter airline OzJet.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 and about 15 seconds duration caused fear of another tsunami among residents of the coast along Honiara at 7:40pm yesterday evening. Many fled to the hills and patients at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara (located directly at the seaside) were told to leave their beds. Fortunately, however, there was no danger of a tsunami and no damage and casualties were reported as a result of the earthquake. The epicenter of the quake was about 70km WSW of Honiara in a depth of about 2 km.

Last Monday Brisbane-Honiara flights were suspended again because the fuel for the plane was not paid. Eventually, Solomon Airlines may have to end its own international jet flights altogether and rely on code sharing with other airlines exclusively.

According to the Solomon Star, Honiara continues to suffer from unannounced and frequent power blackouts. This also often affects the water supply in some parts of the city.

All domestic flights of troubled Solomon Airlines were grounded the day before yesterday. Safety compliance reasons (regular replacement of parts after a certain number of operating hours) were mentioned, but it is not clear whether this was the only or real cause of the grounding.

Meanwhile, domestic flight services are operational again. International flights were not affected.

A new company, Coral Sea Express (CSE), based in Australia, wants to offer three flights a week between Brisbane and Honiara with an Embraer E-170 by the end of the month.

With support from RAMSI, a water pipe is currently being laid between the water source at Graciosa Bay and Lata, the capital of Temotu Province, which has suffered from water shortage for years. The distance between the water source and Lata is about 5km. Improved water supply to the main tanks in Lata is expected to be available early next year. The project is funded by AusAID.

A future project will need to improve the water piping system in Lata itself.

16.02.08 Progress status [Source: private communication]: The water pipe between Graciosa Bay and Lata was successfully completed and a new pump eventually installed and activated. For a day or two, water was flowing out of all leaks in Lata's piping system, then it stopped again. However, since it almost continuously rained in the past months, even the leaking tanks were kept full and Lata does not suffer from water shortage at this time.

Parts of Honiara have been without water for 24 hours after a main supply pipe from Kongulai water source (above White River in West Honiara) had burst yesterday afternoon. Water supply was restored again this afternoon.

Besides Solomon Airlines and Coral Sea Express, Pacific Blue and SkyAirWorld are expected to offer flights to Solomon Islands in the near future.

Solomon Islands has a new Prime Minister: Opposition MP Dr Derek Sikua. He got 32 votes whereas the contestant from the outgoing government, Deputy Prime Minister Patteson Oti, got 15 votes (1 MP was absent). Dr Sikua replaces Manasseh Sogavare who was ousted in a motion of no confidence a week ago, with 25 votes in favor of the motion and 22 votes against it.

This is the first time a prime minister was actually ousted in a motion of no confidence since Solomon Islands gained independence in 1978. Four earlier attempts to topple the Sogavare government had failed.

Dr Sikua is Member of Parliament for Northeast Guadalcanal since April 2006 and was Minister for Education and Human Resources Development until he resigned and joined the opposition in early November 2007.

Health Services

Japan has donated SBD 448,000 to build a health center and staff house for the Areo Community in West Kwara'ae, Malaita Province. It will save people from having to walk hours to get medical treatment at the nearest clinic.

Thanks to a donation of SBD 15,000 raised by the Men of Movember at the Forum Fisheries Agency at the end of last year, a six-member team of the pharmacy department at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara was able to go on a one week awareness tour from Auki to Malu'u in Malaita Province. The team consisted of a principal pharmacist, a training pharmacist, and four pharmacy officer certificate students. There was a puppet show for each of the following topics:

• Don't demand medicine
• Keeping medicine in a safe place
• Always Finish your antibiotics
• Times when you don't need antibiotics
• Diabetes
• Malaria
• Sexually transmitted infections and HIV

The following characters appeared in the shows: Shrek, Uncle Garfunkel, Magi (mummy), Simba (daddy), Daisy (pikinini), Old Man Sale, Nurse Pesi, Pharmacy Officer Cindy, Mr Rat and narrators Wombat and Kookaburra.

At the end of each show the puppets asked questions and the first person to give the correct answer was awarded a prize. Later, the audience could ask questions and information leaflets were distributed.

Shows were presented at Auki market, Fauabu, Fo'ondo, Malu'u and Airahu. The tour was a great success for both the audience and the participants.

Hopefully, similar tours to other provinces will be possible in the future.

The main operating theater at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara remains closed. Major maintenance, including redirection of water pipes and electrical wiring, is required after the recent flooding.

After some concerns were raised that the National Referral Hospital in Honiara was running low on medical supplies and drugs, Ministry of Health and Medical Services Permanent Secretary (Special Duty) Dr Cyril Pitakaka did confirm NRH was running low on some items almost on a daily basis, but could not identify the departments affected.

However, the National Medical Store at Ranadi and NRH Pharmacy Department Director Ray Skinner denied a general shortage of supplies and drugs, but admitted that sometimes certain drugs did run out when demand was high.

Some paramedics (mainly laboratory, x-ray and malaria staff) at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara are reluctant to work extra time or completely refuse to work outside their normal hours, because they feel they have been unfairly treated by the government for the last five years. Whereas the doctors and nurses demands have been met by the government, their demands have been shelved or ignored. The Ministry of Health is looking into the issue and trying to solve it together with the union.

Member of Parliament, Varian Longamei has donated security wire and other material to help improve the security of the Buala hospital compound.

An overseas ENT (ear, nose, throat) team has moved to Kilu'ufi Hospital because the main operating theater at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara is currently closed and the temporary operating theaters lack the necessary equipment. The team will perform operations on about 40 patients who will also have to travel to Auki. All expenses will be paid by the government.

Other medical visits from overseas have been put on halt until the main operating theater is operational again.

Kiribati is happy with the 10 Cuban doctors working in the country. Before their arrival last year, the child mortality was 50/1000, now it is down to 9.9/1000. This is attributed to the doctors' regular checking of pregnant mothers (even at home) and referring to specialists, if necessary. Six more Cuban doctors are expected to join their colleagues later on.

Solomon Islands will be recruiting 10 doctors from Cuba in the near future, and Fiji is also considering a Cuban offer to provide doctors

A study is currently carried out in Honiara as part of the IPT project to compare the effectiveness of chloroquine to Fansidar. 3,000 pregnant women are taking part, with 1,500 getting a chloroquine treatment and 1,500 getting a Fansidar treatment.

Taiwan has donated medical equipment (including four microscopes) and supplies and drugs worth SBD 800,000 to the National Referral Hospital in Honiara.

Furthermore, a nine-member Taiwan Mobile Medical Mission, including specialists from NRH's sister hospital in Taiwan, the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, will provide free medical services at NRH in Honiara, Grove Medical Center on Guadalcanal, Helena Goldie Hospital in Munda, Noro Medical Center and Moudou Health Clinic in the Western Province. The team includes a kidney specialist, a dermatologist, a surgeon, a plastic surgeon, and a dentist. They will return to Taiwan on August 9.

The Taiwan Mobile Medical Mission is supported by Taiwan ICDF.

The governments of Taiwan and Solomon Islands have started discussing phase four of the upgrading project for the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. This phase will include outpatient, office, research, and accommodation facilities.

Atoifi Hospital has its own web site now.

Three medical doctors from Taiwan have received awards from the Solomon Islands ambassador in Taipei for their outstanding work in the disaster areas after a tsunami struck the Western and Choiseul Provinces in April this year.

The Kilu'ufi Hospital's outpatient department was closed last Sunday afternoon after various items worth thousands of dollars were stolen the night before. Malaita Provincial Health Director Dr Rex Maukera said outpatient would remain closed except for emergencies until the stolen items were returned. The department was opened again on Monday afternoon, after police had recovered all items except for some liters of fuel and returned them to the hospital on Monday morning.

According to a recent health status report, Solomon Islands' crude birth rate is 23/1000 and its crude death rate 7/1000.

49% of the population (currently about 500,000) is less than 14 years old, and only 3% is above 65 years.

Life expectancy for men is 62 and for women 64 years.

According to Health and Medical Services Minister Clay Forau, Solomon Islands is one of the Pacific Islands countries behind in coping with non communicable diseases (NCDs). E.g. diabetes is still steadily increasing and is the second most frequent cause of death after cancer. Reasons for the lag are: skills in and support of prevention and control of NCDs are limited, data is often insufficient or inexistent, and measures available are often not well integrated, outdated, or insufficient. Finally, treatment and care are still considered more important than prevention.

The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu has visited Solomon Islands on its four-month Pacific Partnership humanitarian assistance mission to Southeast Asia and Oceania. Peleliu is the name of a small island in Palau and the site of the Battle of Peleliu in WWII.

Construction and engineering teams (Seabees) helped repair and renovate Gizo Hospital in Western Province and Sasamunga Hospital and Voza Clinic in Choiseul Province. Medical and dental teams provided medical services aboard and ashore. Surgeons performed more than 30 operations aboard the ship. Furthermore, donated goods were distributed as part of the Project Handclasp.

When the Assistant US Consular Agent in Solomon Islands, Anne Raenaitoro heard the National Referral Hospital in Honiara had run out of saline bags, she contacted the USS Peleliu for assistance. They promptly responded by sending six boxes of those bags, which were gratefully received by the NRH.

According to a recent health status report, 56% of all patients admitted to the National Referral Hospital in Honiara are said to be smokers with chronic lung diseases, 69% of all patients admitted with pneumonia and 97% of all patients with lung cancers are smokers. There is also some evidence that children with pneumonia tend to have parents who smoke.

The number of confirmed HIV cases is still eight. As of June 2007, 30 Voluntary Counseling and Confidential Test (V-C-C-T) centers have been established, which were visited by more than 900 clients for voluntary counseling. The fairly high number is attributed to the promotion of those centers on local television. More awareness programs are being prepared and more test centers will be established outside of Honiara.

After the trip has been postponed several times, a delegation led by Minister of Health and Medical Services, Clay Forau is finally going to Cuba to formalize the agreement with the Cuban government to get (up to 40) doctors from Cuba and send medical students from Solomon Islands to Cuba for their training. The delegation intends to interview and select the first 10 Cuban doctors to come to Solomon Islands at the end of this month.

Under the agreement, the Cuban doctors' salaries will be paid by the Cuban government, whereas travel expenses and accommodation will have to be paid for by Solomon Islands.

The maintenance work on the main operating theater of the National Referral Hospital in Honiara is nearing completion. The pipes and parts of the floor, ceiling and walls have been replaced. The theater is expected to be operational again next month.

Kilu'ufi Hospital's outpatient department was closed again on Monday (September 17) after a drunkard had attacked a hospital vehicle on the way to Auki town last Friday and the vehicle was stoned at a village on Sunday while bringing a sick baby and its mother to the hospital.

The outpatient department opened again this morning after Auki police, supported by community elders, had arrested and charged two suspects.

Solomon Telekom donated SBD 1,000 to support the beautification and face-lifting program for the 40th anniversary of Kilu'ufi Hospital in Malaita Province in November this year.

The hospital was opened on November 24, 1967 by Sir Robert Foster (KCMG). The last celebration took place in 1982.

A Taiwan Health Center will be established at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara as part of phase three of the hospital upgrading project. The center will be opened next week and operated by two doctors and a nurse from Taiwan who will arrive this weekend.

A team of physicians from Taiwan (one of them an expert in cardiovascular surgery) is on the way to Solomon Islands. They will stay for 15 months and provide medical care and training in various fields.

Phase three of the upgrading project of the National Referral Hospital in Honiara has been completed and officially handed over to Solomon Islands by the Taiwanese government. Phase three included the construction of a multipurpose building and workshop facilities worth SBD 13.28 million.

Japan will fund and conduct a basic design study on the reconstruction of Gizo Hospital which has been badly damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in April this year. The study will be carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

It is still uncertain when the first Cuban doctors will arrive in Solomon Islands and medical students will be able to go to Cuba for their training. It seems that Cuba has reservations regarding the level and status of medical facilities and equipment currently available at the National Referral Hospital. Furthermore, the cabinet has yet to allocate funds for the airfares of doctors and students.

Another 37 new nurses have received their certificates of registration yesterday.

The Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA), a Japanese NGO, will provide solar refrigerators, cold boxes and vaccine carriers worth almost USD 83,000 for a Cold Chain Rehabilitation Project for the tsunami affected hospital and clinics in Western Province. Specifically, equipment will go to Gizo Hospital, Keru clinic in North New Georgia, Paramata, Dovele and Lambu Lambu clinics on Vella Lavella, and Falamae, Nila and Toumoa clinics in Shortland Islands. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, JICA and UNICEF and is expected to be completed by February next year.

Tulagi, the capital of Central Province has once more been without water for eight days. The landowners of the water resources have turned off the water supply again on October 22. The supply was restored today and the case is now before the courts. The landowners say the government owes them land rentals, but the government says it has the title of the land in question and does not have to pay rentals.

Tulagi Hospital was only able to accept emergencies and had to move out some of its patients during the water shortage.

According to Permanent Secretary of Health and Medical Services, Dr George Malefoasi, there is a notable increase in diabetes not only among adults but also among children in Solomon Islands. The records show 18 children to be affected, the youngest just being five years old.

Thanks to an Australian Business Volunteer, Warren Humphries, Lata Hospital is finally getting an improved water supply. 73-year-old Warren Humphries, a professional plumber, did an assessment of the situation in June this year and promised a solution. Recently, he returned and started to improve the system together with some local people and the help of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Division. Now, a few weeks later, the rain water collection has been optimized. Several tanks have been set up and almost all hospital roofs contribute to the water collection. According to Director of Temotu Provincial Health Services, Dr Günter Kittel, water taps, toilets and showers are working, much to the joy of staff and patients at the hospital.

Dr Kittel also mentioned that Minister of Health, Clay Forau, had donated a washing machine for the hospital laundry. Before, all laundry had to be taken to a river on the other side of Graciosa Bay.

Two new HIV/AIDS cases have been confirmed in Solomon Islands this year, bringing the total number to ten. Based on this, the number of infected people is estimated to be 150 by the end of the year.

Dr John Hue presented the findings of an eye injury survey carried out in Solomon Islands between 2005 and 2007 at the RANZCO 39th Annual Scientific Congress in Perth, Australia. He said the following cases were encountered frequently:

• females with eye injuries due to domestic violence
• young men with eye injuries due to brawls
• children below 12 years with lime burns due to the carelessness of betel nut chewing parents and relatives
• professionals with eye injuries due to not wearing eye protection

In some cases a delayed treatment of injuries had resulted in blindness caused by infection.

Rotary Club volunteers have constructed a new storage shed for anti-malaria supplies and equipment (bednets, chemicals, etc.) in Honiara. The old shed was not sturdy enough and had been broken into several times.

Three more such storage sheds will be built in Guadalcanal Province and some 20 more in other provinces.

Funds for building materials and other expenses are provided by the Global Fund.

Japan will provide SBD 1.25 million for the rehabilitation of Lale Rural Health Clinic in Southern Ranongga, Kara and Mondo Nurse Aid Posts in Western Ranongga, and the associated staff houses with water tanks and shower and toilet facilities.

Ranongga Island in Western Province was heavily affected by the earthquake and tsunami in April this year.

Basic medicines like Panadol, amoxicillin and chloroquine are in stock again and are being distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout the country.

The manager of the National Medical Store, Willie Horoto, attributes the recent shortage to the large amount of drugs sent to the tsunami affected provinces in April this year and the long time it takes (about 6 months) from the moment supplies are ordered until they are delivered.

During the shortage, the National Referral Hospital in Honiara used its emergency funds to buy drugs essential for patients admitted at the hospital.

The Helena Goldie Hospital HIV/AIDS committee together with Support for International Change (SIC) have conducted a one-week HIV/AIDS awareness program in Western Province last week. Free HIV/AIDS tests were available at Munda and Noro last Friday.

Funds for the activities were provided by Oxfam, SIC, and local sponsors.

See: SIC > "Newsletters" > "SIC Newsletter: World AIDS Day Special Edition" for more information and some pictures.

Medical Aid Abroad in New Zealand Inc. supports Malu'u Area Health Center in North Malaita once more. 12 boxes of medical supplies arrived aboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft on December 1 and will be shipped to Malu'u soon.

The donation was negotiated by the To'abaita Authority for Research and Development (TARD), a volunteer group of local students studying in Fiji.

Japan supports the rehabilitation of Kirakira's old and leaking water supply system with SBD 360,000. Kirakira is the capital of Makira Ulawa Province and has suffered from water problems due to broken pipes and low pressure for years.

Media and Reports

NRH photo gallery by Jürg Burren: Solomon Islands 2006 (2MB PDF file)

Auf Visite im «Wunderland» (287KB PDF file) by Cornel Stöckli, published in Schweizerische Ärztezeitung Nr. 34/2007 [1411]. Sorry, available in German only.

A new book on our books page: SOLOMON ISLANDS A South Seas Journey by Michael McCoy. A beautiful book that can be ordered from Makcell Enterprises in Gizo. It took just about three weeks to arrive in Switzerland by air mail. The book was in perfect condition and came with a lot of Solomon Islands stamps on its packing.

Two filled in questionnaires: FS0702 and FS0703.

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