LOCAL students living and studying at Victoria, Australia has donated two medical machines to the National Referral Hospital (NRH), Wednesday.
A nebulizer and a blood pressure machine which costs more than AUD$200 was donated to the hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) department by the student representative, Janine Simi.
In the somewhat packed outpatient ward, the valuable machines were handed over to representatives of the hospital which was witnessed by the sick patients.
Ms Simi in an interview with the Solomon Star said that, they have learnt of the hospital’s urgent need through the social media (facebook) after they heard reports that two nebulizing machines were stolen from the A&E department not so long ago.
“We felt sorry to hear the news but we feel that we must help the sick patients of our country.
“We understand the difficulty that our health centres have faced in procuring basic medical facilities that are necessary to save lives.
“So, we put together money to pay for the equipment,” Ms Simi said.
She told the hospital staff that, she hoped the machines will be of great help in the hospitals day to day activities.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, the hospital secretary and supervising CEO Jack Atomea said, the assistance is just timely.
“Last week, one generous organisation has donated three machines of such too, and having received this machines today (yesterday) will be a boost to our work.
“Our doctors and nurses in-charge will be very happy to receive and use these machines. On behalf of the management of NRH, we would like to thank the Solomon Islands community and Victoria Students Association for the timely donation,” Mr Atomea said.
Dr Philip Komasi of the A&E department also thanked the local students studying overseas for understanding the cries of the sick patients of Solomon Islands.
He added that, to treat a person without nebulizer is costly but now that the machine has been received, it will be a great help for them.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
