DEAR EDITOR,

The Helena Goldie Hospital located at Munda in the beautiful Western Province of the Solomon Islands was established in 1903 by the generous support of caring people, at home and overseas, and run as a church-owned health care service in agreement with the Western Provincial Health Service.

The hospital looks after 15 clinics within Zone 3 of the Western Province, the areas comprising of North Georgia, Vona Vona Lagoon, Roviana Lagoon and Rendova Islands.

The estimated population of the large area comprises in excess of 26,000 people.

The hospital has always provided high quality health care services which meets the SI Ministry of Health guidelines and the community aided by trained and experienced staff supported by sound management, albeit there is currently a shortage of qualified Registered Nurses and there is no money to recruit more and no available accommodation even if money was provided to recruit more.

At the present time the hospital has two volunteer doctors from Switzerland and one local doctor.

The funding for the ongoing needs of the hospital is precarious since traditional donors have stopped aiding the hospital and there is no money for any infrastructural developments, but there is still some ongoing help for its capital expenditure (CAPEX) budget for Human Resources development and for medical requirements.

Clearly, there is, however, funding needed for the major administrative and overheads of the hospital.

Since 2014 the state’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services and its Support Programme for the hospital has been cut by 33 percent and there has been no change in the annual grant from the SIG.

It is said the hospital has recently resorted to having to introduce new fee charges to cover the administrative costs and overheads of continuing to run the health care services in the face of the SIG’s budget cuts and the lack of financial support from once traditional partners and donors.

It is estimated it costs the hospital S85 to care for one patient overnight but the shortage funds is said to be causing the hospital great concern over its deficit.

The hospital has no empty beds and is really struggling to provide the vital health care it has always given but clearly more money must be forthcoming, and soon, if wages, electricity and telephone bills are to be paid.

As the SI Government grant is not enough to meet the hospital’s recurrent budget and given the fact that the Helena Goldie Hospital is an essential health care provider in the Western Province is it too much to ask that the SIG increase its Support Programme allocation for, after all, the SI Prime Minister made it an election pledge to restore provincial health care clinics – and Helena Goldie has 15 of them and a local community in excess of 26,000?

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

DEAR EDITOR,

I have become aware that a recent reference was made in your newspaper to what I had to say in my book ‘Policing a Clash of Cultures’ which I wrote recounting the happenings at the time of holding the office of Commissioner of Police in the Solomon Islands from July 1997 to July 1999.

The particular reference related to the Police Credit Union.

For the purpose of the record, here is the text of what I said in my book.

“At the time I was given the board’s list of promotion recommendations, there surfaced information regarding the misuse of police funds.

“This financial scandal surfaced because a ‘whistle blower’ tipped me off that money had been loaned to many serving and past members of the Force but had never been paid back. The informant, a junior police officer, had applied for a sum of money as a loan to help pay for funeral expenses. He was told there was no money left to help him.

“The source of these loans was the Police Club at Rove which made an annual profit – excellent.

“These profits, were mainly from sales of alcohol, and were deposited into the equivalent of a Credit Union account under the supervision of the secretary, who was the Commandant of the Police Academy at the time. The original aim was to use the profits as short term loans to help out officers with the type of problem that had caused the scandal to surface.

“I did two things immediately.

First, I called for all the books and went over them.

“They showed that large sums of money had, indeed, been paid out to several senior serving and past officers, including the former Police Commissioner and the present Deputy Commissioner, but no trace of any return payments. There were enough loans to show a deliberate raiding of police funds by a select few senior or other insiders from within the police hierarchy.

“One example showed a Chief Inspector on the staff of the Police Academy had been loaned so much money, it was difficult to see how he could possibly repay it from his salary alone: nor was there any sign of any attempt to make any form of repayment.

“And this was interest free money…

“He was also one of those officers who, along with other delinquents had been recommended to me for promotion.

“The Governor of the Central Bank had the responsibility in terms of the Credit Union’s charter to audit the books annually; however this had never been done.

“The second positive action was to hand carry to his office the account records, including cheque stubs, for auditing purposes. There his office soon discovered that there had indeed been malpractice.

“Then the inquiry stopped, or at least nothing actually happened about the problem from the Governor of the Central Bank before my departure.

“I also appeared before the Police and Prison Service Commission and explained to the Chairman and members why I had blocked the promotions of certain members of the police.

“The Chairman, who happened to be the Chief Justice, agreed.”

I trust this disclosure will aid the discussion, if any, on what really occurred prior to my leaving office.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

DEAR EDITOR,

“Single-use plastics are a human addiction that we must face head on. Plastic pollution is not only impacting our waters and marine life, but also the human food chain and our overall health.”

Plastic Oceans.org. 

 Recent Radio New Zealand news bulletins have reported how the government in Vanuatu is leading the way among the smaller Pacific Islands nations in banning plastic bags and some types of plastic packaging.

Quoting from a couple of those broadcast bulletins these are the measures already in place in Vanuatu and plans for the near future.

“Vanuatu’s Council of Ministers agreed last month to stop single-use bags being imported and manufactured in the country after a study around the main island of Efate showed up a large amount of plastic litter.

“The ban is among a number of steps being taken to manage the problem.

“The ban started on 31 January and also extends to polystyrene takeaway boxes which are commonly used for carrying food.

“The government says local plastic bag manufacturers will only be allowed to use biodegradable plastics from that date.

“It’s also planning to deal with plastic bottle waste and provide support for alternatives like traditional baskets.

“Companies are to be given a grace period of six months to use up their current stock of single-use plastics and polystyrene takeaway boxes.

“Vanuatu is also planning to ban more plastic packaging like plastic bottles in future.

“The governments announced, as a start, non-biodegradable plastic bags and polystyrene takeaway boxes are to be banned from the end of this month.

“The head of Maritime and Ocean Affairs in Vanuatu Toney Tevi said new laws would also be introduced for managing plastic waste.

“He said changes to the country’s Waste Management Act would be announced by the end of the month.

“We will also have a regulation in place, which will tell us how and when, and go about managing certain plastics, so we’re not going to do anything that might want to hurt somebody in such a way that it’s going to be bad for him and his business, but we want to do it in such a way that they too understand that plastic should not get into the sea.”

 Source:   Radio New Zealand International.

 Yours sincerely

 Frank Short