No. 9 under the microscope!

J. Roughan

13 November 2009

Honiara   

For more than a month now Parliament's Special Committee has been paying close attention to the medical services of our National Referral Hospital, affectionately named No. 9. This parliamentary committee chaired by the Hon. Peter Boyers must be commended on its month long study, probing and questioning of our doctors, nurses, medical staff and many others connected with No. 9's medical outreach.

 

SIBC's daily coverage, TV 1's nightly programs and the print media's high lighting of the Special Committee's work must also get special mention as offering the nation a worthwhile public service. It's rare when the whole media sector--radio, TV and print--has harnessed its energies to pull together an information packet for the worth of the whole nation. Would that the story they are telling was a positive one, full of great promise and hope!

 

Now, after the Special Committee's public review, no one can be under any illusion or doubt. Our one and only medical establishment currently works far below its proper level needed by the nation. Make no mistake about it, No. 9 could not handle a major airplane accident out at Henderson. Nor could it adequately respond to a major road crash. God forbid, if an overloaded market truck returning to its home village in East Guale would collide with a fuel-filled tanker. Then, tens of causalities, badly burnt bodies, could not be properly taken care of at our National Referral Hospital.

 

Parliament's Special Committee has made a strong start. It uncovered profound weaknesses in the medical system, laid bare the severe inadequacies of some health units within the hospital complex and most telling, makes it clear the full meaning of the financial cuts which the nation's primary hospital has suffered over past years. These financial cuts are one of the main contributing factors in No. 9's overall failure, a failure to provide adequate medical service to the general public.

 

Members, fortunately, have recently returned to parliament to hold sessions. Of course, parliament's current work sessions have much more to do than simply study and put their minds together to fix this problem. It has tons of tough things to take on board, craft strong legislation on political integrity and especially getting the national economy up and humming as in the recent past.

 

But no legislation or economic stimulus package overrides the dire necessity of re-establishing the National Referral Hospital's return to health once again. To paraphrase SIBC's short jingle: 'Without a strong No. 9, all else is nothing!'

 

Of course No. 9 needs more money, better financing and stronger funding but that's only half the story. Even if parliament would order tons and tons of more cash tomorrow morning many hospital problems wouldn't disappear at all. It would be a like painting over a piece of rotten timber . . . once the paint dries the rot quickly shows up again but in worse condition.

 

Parliament's Special Committee has done its job. It thoroughly inspected the National Referral Hospital and has uncovered its serious and potentially dangerous weaknesses.  But now what is needed is a select committee, not parliamentarians nor dominated by medical doctors or PSs, but a committee made up of community people who would bring two things to the problem: they must have a great stake in the proper working of the national hospital and secondly, have a proven track record of getting things done, fixed and moving under pressure.

 

No. 9 needs a bunch of do-ers, talkers need not apply! Appoint a health Czar who would be given the authority to knock heads, shout out loud but make things happen. Of course the Czar and his/her committee must have a strong budget to be able to throw around its weight, get toilet doors fixed up immediately, order x-ray machine spare parts yesterday and do the hundred and one things that must be done to get our No.9 up and running for the whole of the nation. Time is not on our side!