Kukum Clinic has been officially reopened by the Deputy City Mayor after a major renovation works that started last year.
The reopening of the Kukum Clinic was witnessed by HCC Councilors, Chairman for Health, Director Health of Honiara City, Director of Nursing, Director Works and staff of Kukum Clinic.
Speaking during the reopening, Honiara City Council (HCC), Deputy City Mayor, Mr Robert Oge apologizes to the people of Honiara City for the slowness of works to complete the clinic in time.
“I hope the opening of this clinic will ease the burden experienced by people since last year. People will once more able to access the facility when they need it,” Mr Oge said.
He said as we all know Kukum Clinic is one of the busiest clinic of Honiara City.
“In 2019, Kukum Clinic recorded a total of 54,432 in outpatient for various complaints and diseases. This clinic saw patients as young as 8 days to 50 years and above.
“If we divide this in days, the clinic saw roughly 149 cases in one day. We are no way near to the acceptable nursing to patient ratio. We therefore expect issues around quality of care.
“From this data we can see that Kukum Clinic is a busy clinic and needs functional infrastructure, enough workforces with appropriate equipment.
“We are working with relevant offices to make sure these issues are addressed. It is a testament today that we witness the reopening of the clinic with new look and enough space for services to be delivered,” Mr Oge said.
He stated as advised by health experts, the clinic will open from 8am- 10pm on Mondays to Fridays and 8am-4am on weekends.
He then kindly calls for the cooperation of the people of Honiara in looking after the facility.
“Building new facility or renovation is no small task. It requires resources for example funds to compete such works. Let me extend my call to the nurses, doctors and other officers who will use this facility to serve the public, please use the facility for its intended purposes only and please look after all equipment, drug supplies and so forth.
“Whilst we appreciate the re-opening of Kukum clinic, let me quickly reminds us that health is everybody’s business. Please look after yourself. Avoid unhealthy behavior which makes you sick.
“Hospital and clinics alone will never address all health issues. Better we prevent ourselves from getting sick. The saying goes “Prevention is better than Cure,” Mr Oge said.
Meanwhile, Director Health Services of Honiara City, Dr Christopher Becha said recent renovation halted the services, thus affects the normal services as expected.
However, he thanked HCC Executive for the funding and works done to get the clinic open again.
By ESTHER NURIA
Newsroom, Honiara
