THE Member of Parliament for South Guadalcanal Rollen Seleso took a boat trip to communities within his constituency to personally deliver much needed medical supplies to his people on Sunday.
Mr Seleso was accompanied by the Member of the Provincial Assembly for Duidui Ward John Stewart with a boat load of antibiotics, malaria treatments and oxygen concentrators.
A statement from the Guadalcanal Province Office said the two leaders visited coastal clinics in Biti (Duidui Ward), Koleula (Vatukulau Ward), Kuma (Vatukulau Ward), Madachacho (Talise Ward) and Barainagho (Talise Ward).
The statement said they did not visit Viso (Duidui Ward) and Babanakira (Wander Bay Ward) because these two clinics were supplied by Guadalcanal Province Medical last week.
However, Honourable Stewart said they will assess the supplies and support these two clinics in their next trips.
He said the trip was to support the work of Guadalcanal Provincial Government Medical and PDOC teams and to give moral support to the people in the communities during these times of difficulty.
“We met with nurses and many chairmen in these communities to encourage and assure them our support” he said.
“The trip was a bit emotional because people were so overjoyed to see their MP being there for them during these trying times,” Mr Stewart said in the statement.
He said Mr Seleso and his team were swabbed before their departure and despite their negative COVID-19 status they encouraged people who ran to greet them on the beaches to observe all COVID-19 safety measures and the people complied.
He said most people have flu-like symptoms since last week.
The statement said most nurses in the area were trained by the Guadalcanal Province Medical team last week on how to do swabbing.
Therefore, it said reports on COVID-19 cases from this area will be available this week.
Despite this, Mr Stewart said the spirit of resilience displayed by the people has been an inspiration.
“…there’s always this spirit of resilience displayed by our people. This is, in and of itself, an inspiration for all of us to continue serving our people,” Mr Stewart said.
The bulk of basic medical supplies were purchased under the South Guadalcanal Constituency MP’s Repatriation Discretionary Funds.
Mr Seleso had informed GP Medical of his coordinated support prior to the trip.
He stated that he will continue to cooperate with GP Medical team by providing awareness and other support during the vaccination rollout programs in South Guadalcanal.
The statement said several Guadalcanal MPs such as Hon. Ishmael Avui (East Central Guadalcanal), Hon. Ethel Vokia (Northeast Guadalcanal) and Hon. Bradley Tovosia (East Guadalcanal), are also supporting their constituencies in their own capacities.
Not to mention other GP provincial assembly members for Tandai, Saghalu, Savulei, Wanderer Bay, Malango, Longgu, Birao, Tasimboko, and Kolokarako.
The statement said compared with these constituencies and wards, South Guadalcanal Constituency is completely cut off from road access due to its high steeped and rugged hills along the coast.
Thus, it is only accessible via sea transportation.
To make matters more difficult, the statement said some of the wards like Duidui and Kuma have no reliable access to communication since last year.
Despite these challenges, Mr Seleso and Mr Stewart have shown their determination and genuine hearts for their people in some of the remotest parts of Guadalcanal, which now shows or indicates how widespread COVID-19 is.
“Hon. Seleso and I will continue to support the great work that Guadalcanal Provincial Government, through PDOC and GP Health and Medical, are currently doing. Thus, we want to simply thank all GP frontliners so far,” Mr Stewart said.
He also encouraged all his colleague MPAs to support their MPs and GPG to fight COVID-19 in their respective constituencies and wards.
“I want to encourage all my colleague MPAs to support our MPs, GPDOC and GPHEOC in our fight against COVID-19,” he said.
“Despite the dark and gloomy situation, we’re currently facing, remember that there are always brighter days ahead. And our focus right now is to live to see these brighter days.”
