Vila Central Hospital

The money was collected through a first ever 36-hour-live broadcast radiothon organised by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation.

The initiative stemmed from the VBTC Social Club and they had exchanges with the Vila Central Hospital authorities.

The main referral hospital currently has only four incubators, three others are not functioning well.

VBTC Chief Executive Officer, Francis Herman said people continue to donate even days after the Radiothon.

“Even seasonal workers contributed by sending their money via Western Union.”

The medical equipment arrived in four containers, two each for the hospitals.

The donation includes anesthesia machines, oxygen generators, premature incubator, ECG machines, ICU beds and personnel protective equipment such as medical masks and surgical gowns and caps, shows cover and first-aid packets.

The Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu, Zhou Haicheng said this is the seventh donation provided by China to Vanuatu in response to COVID-19

The call for support by the non-profit organisation Helping Hands has attracted the attention of the business community, families, individuals and the Vanuatu diaspora.

Pledges towards the appeal have been made from as far as Tasmania in Australia, by a group of Ni-Vanuatu seasonal workers.

According to Carissa Jacobe of Helping Hands, the issue has started a conversation and awareness about the issues that the national hospital is facing.

The radiothon was organized to raise funds to buy incubators for Vila Central Hospital.

DJ Saipresz and his co-host, Joseph ‘Soso” Toms began their quest at 6am Friday, 23 January and ended at 6pm Saturday without sleeping for 36 hours.

Five other colleagues kept vigil over the pair and stayed up for 36 hours as well.

The team of helpers included Rani Taviti, Alexis Arukelena, Steven Able and George Toukone.

The radiothon was organized by Vanuatu Broadcasting & Television Corporation (VBTC) Staff Social Club.

The unit said some countries require travelers to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test prior to entry to their country.

“If you are leaving Vanuatu and require a Covid-19 test, this can be organised through Vila Central Hospital (VCH).”

The fee for the test is 25,000 vatu.

Travelers are urging to request testing at least 72 hours in advance of their flight.

Air Vanuatu will be operating several repatriation and freighter flights between Auckland, Brisbane, Fiji, Noumea and Port Vila from now until July.

Vanuatu has no active cases of Covid-19.

The training programmes help Pacific health workers to learn life-saving skills for pregnancy and childbirth.

The NZ Medical Treatment Scheme has been supporting programmes aimed at addressing child health in Vanuatu over the past three years and the training has been tailored for the Pacific.

The programme has been rolled out to all Vanuatu’s provinces over the last year.

Photo NZ High Commission Vanuatu/Facebook  

The Director of Public Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Len Tarivonda, said the ward being prepared at the Vila Central Hospital in Port Vila, should be ready in two weeks.

The Daily Post reports he also confirmed that equipment to carry out tests for covid will arrive in Vanuatu within two weeks.

Dr Tarivonda said staff at the laboratory at Vila Central were already undergoing special training to be ready to carry out tests for the virus.

According to him, the isolation ward will allow for no more than 100 people to undergo tests at any one time.

Hosted at the spacious Warwick Le Lagon and Spa resort in Port Vila, the Vila Central Hospital (VCH) management team handed Medical Superintendent awards to its most deserving staff of 2019 in acknowledgement of their outstanding contribution to patient care services.

Emergency physician and Chair of the local organizing committee, Dr Vincent Atua, praised the contribution of VCH’s support staff, in particular the nurse aides, porters and cleaners.

The chair of the Public Service Commission, Martin Mahe, said the hospital will open from eight in the morning until midnight on Saturday and Sunday for a month from next week.

The Daily Post newspaper reported the trial could be replicated in other provincial hospitals.

Mr Mahe said the exercise will address the systemic issue of accessibility to affordable and quality healthcare.

“It was great for the hospital to benefit from the Games and use some of the products that were not fully consumed during the Games,” said CEO of Van2017, Clint Flood.

These were items that Pacific Catering had purchased under their contract to provide the athlete meals, and a provision in the contract allowed Van2017 to donate any unused products. Pacific Catering provided 50,000 athlete meals at the convention centre from the period Nov 28- Dec 19.