FORMER Member of Parliament (MP) Hograno /Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel province Jeremiah Manele says the next government must seriously work on the new National Referral Hospital (NRH) in 2019.
The caretaker Minister for Ministry for Development, Planning and Aid Coordination in the SIDCG Rick Hou led Government made this call during his Sine Die motion speech before the dissolution of the parliament on Sunday.
Mr Manele admitted that the state of the current NRH is really bad.
This paper understood that that the issues surrounding the deteriorating state of the NRH and other provincial health care system had been hitting the headline both in the local and international media.
Mr Manele said there is need for urgent repair and renovations of some of the wards within the hospital, pending the construction of the new hospital.
“Similar repair and renovation work is also required in some of our provincial hospitals, areas health centres and clinic throughout the country,” he added.
While he acknowledged the drug supply situation in the country has been stabilised, Mr Manele said the government must not allow such a situation such as shortage of essential drugs to happen again.
“Let us not put the lives of our people in danger, we must improve on our planning and procurement processes to secure essential drugs overseas in a timely manner,” he added.
This is a serious call us the last government failed miserably to address the plight of the Solomon Islands healthcare system, he added.
Numerous calls have been made on the floor of the parliament and in the media to sack the former Minister for Health and Medical Services and MP for Renbell constituency but the former Prime Minister fail to take action.
Mr Manele said health care system must be one of the priorities of the next government after the 2019 national general election.
By ANDREW FANASIA
