THE National Referral Hospital is now into emergency mode and will be only be accepting emergencies, accidents and referrals.
A statement from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services said with the current COVID-19 community transmission in Honiara and ongoing response, the National Referral Hospital (NRH) is now into emergency mode.
For all accidents and emergency cases that needs to be urgently brought to the hospital the public is asked to call St John’s Ambulance on the following telephone numbers: 111, 911, 713600 or the NRH Emergency Operation Centre on 21068.
Another option to bring emergency cases to the hospital is to use private vehicles.
However, the statement said this must be communicated first to the police by contacting 27893 or 27895 to ensure smooth movement to the hospital.
All non-emergency cases and those not flu related are asked to go to Kukum and Rove clinics in Honiara during this lockdown period for consultation and to receive treatment.
For all flu like illnesses, runny nose, coughing etc…do not move but call National Health Emergency Operation Centre (NHEOC) on toll free line 115 or 25256 so that a health team can be dispatched to your location for assessment and further instructions and actions.
The statement said all deaths at the hospital are taken directly to the morgue and bodies will remain there until after the lockdown where families can come to collect their loved ones.
“Deaths from home can be transported to the hospital however due to the lockdown, you are advised to liaise with the police for smooth movement to the morgue.
“Due to the morgue’s holding capacity of only 15 bodies, hospital is working on additional storage space,” the statement said.
Under the emergency mode, hospital is also limiting movements in and out of the hospital with gate securities strictly controlling the number of people entering the hospital and flow of caregivers of the sick admitted at the hospital.
NRH kindly advice families who have their loved ones admitted at the hospital to plan and schedule at least only one caregiver to provide care and assistance for the sick admitted at the hospital wards.
Anyone coming to the hospital, you are strongly advised to wear face masks and ensure all other COVID-19 – safe measures are practiced while at the hospital such as frequent hand washing with soap or hand sanitizer, coughing or sneezing into elbows and maintain social distancing of at least 2 meters to another person.
Public are strongly advised to share these information and adhere to the instructions outlined as much as possible to ensure that we continue to respond to the community transmission of COVID-19 and maintain health services as safe as possibly can be.
