BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE has launched a full scale investigation into the alleged misuse of the Police Credit Union fund.

And, pending the report, charges are expected to be laid soon.

Police Commissioner Mathew Varley during the police weekly media conference said investigation has been going on for some time, adding that the case is complex.

“Investigators are exploring several years’ worth of documents which go way back to 2013 and 2014 and as one can imagine the volume of documents and materials will take time to complete the case.”

This however does not imply that investigations are not going well, he stresses.

One aspect which Commissioner Varley highlights is the administration of the credit union, which is separate from the police force; hence the force and the Commissioner have no control over the fund.

“However, what I do have control and am concerned with is the potential for offences both criminal and police disciplinary offences that are being committed to tarnish the reputation of the Police Force.

“And that is why I have taken this case pretty seriously,” Varley said.

Already, some staff and members of the committee of the credit union have been interviewed; and Varley has briefings from the director of the professional standards unit regularly.

“I can’t say too much as the matter is ongoing and at this pointing time charges have not been laid but I can tell you that number of people have been interviewed and we are working through some detailed financial record to determine exactly what had been happening,” Varley said.

He said investigators from the Police Professional Standard and Internal Investigation (PSII) and the fraud unit are currently working through a very large amount of banking documents and financial records.

“We have obtained various cheques and banking records from banks here in Honiara about financial affairs of the Credit Union,” Varley added.

BY JARED KOLI

PATIENTS, health workers and supporters have yesterday commenced inking signatories to petition Prime Minister to call for a Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the medical and health service provided at the hospital.

Launched at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) yesterday afternoon, Ishmael Nori, a patient at the NRH and civil society advocator was backed by Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) Chairman Wilfred Luiramo.

The move which receives wide support from the Prime Minister himself, hospital executives, the Young Women in Parliament Group (YWPG) and the public – began at the NRH surgical ward.

It hopes to collect signatures from patients in all wards before submission to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr Nori, who initiated the call, said nurses who believe and support this cause can also sign the petition forms.

“After this we will compile all the signatures and see where we can go from here to present this to the Prime Minister. We are looking at presenting the signatures to the prime minister through a Member of Parliament (MP) who will act as our Ambassador.

“We want to see the recommendations set in the 2009 and 2015 Special Select Committee report into the Quality of Medical Services provided at NRH fully implemented, more on the development aspects of NRH,” Nori added.

Nori earlier told Island Sun that people and ordinary citizens of this country deserve a St Vincent-like quality hospital service provided at the NRH.

“I have observed that for many people, there is nothing much to do for them here, if we can have services that are accessed by our Ministers or Members of Parliament at St Vincent hospital here during the early stages of their sick, that could prevent deaths and save lives here,” he adds.

Nori also questions how the government prioritises health workers, doctors, nurses and technical staff on specialised trainings.

“What we want the government to do is to proritise to save lives same as the quality of service at its sister hospital, St Vincent hospital in Sydney, Australia,” Nori said.

He said the petition is for people who believe that this is a good cause, all for the sake of improving quality of service in the hospital, such as improved state of the art medical facilities and so forth.

“How can we afford this, knowing our needs, identifying our medical needs is what we want, and at the same time identify specialise training needs for medical workers to serve our people.

“Besides hospital relocation, the government must look at this as a national project,” Nori said.

It was in April 2009 that Parliament resolved on a motion to appoint a Special Select Committee to inquire into the quality of medical services provided at the National Referral Hospital (NRH).

Since then it is almost ten years since inquiries were made into the quality of medical services. Only a few of the recommendations had been achieved and quality of medical services at the NRH is still poor.

Nori says he fully supports the call for the national government to carry out work on the recommendations adding that NRH needs a total restructuring and needs to have in place a better commanding and communication system between the hospital authorities.

“How it seems, each hospital departments is running at their own, disconnected from other departments. Examples if wards run out of drugs on a weekend, there is nothing much they can do to get drugs from the pharmacy but to wait till Monday.”

Nori said that all departments of the hospital should be on call 24/7 to provide much needed support services to the wards.

“I am sure there must be such arrangement in place but it seems as if it is not working. Someone is not doing his or her job.”

At the same time he said full autonomy should be given to the National Referral Hospital.

“Just to purchase a new tap to replace a leaked one will have to wait for the Health Ministry,” says Nori.

Government should work on all the recommendations instead of a few as had been the case now, he said.

BY JARED KOLI

THE Honiara City Council (HCC) is working on a plan to rectify the current bus hiccup experienced by travelling public in Honiara.

City Mayor, Andrew Mua told Island Sun via phone yesterday that the HCC task force committee mandated to oversee the matter is taking into consideration the issue.

“We are still monitoring the situation, taking into consideration the outcome of the current ongoing road work once completed.

“The task force is observing the issue and has a plan in place if it remain the same after completion of road works,” Mr Mua said.

The City Mayor could not provide further information on the proposed plan since it is still in its early stages.

But he said the plan could be implemented in July or August once the situation remained the same.

A Honiara bus driver said it would be wise if HCC considers partitioning the main highway from White River to KGVI into three stops – the added point could be from Central Market to Kukum, and from there to KGVI.

But Mua said HCC cannot create new routes at the moment.

The City Mayor made the response after the travelling public facing difficulties in accessing bus services along Honiara roads. This was after three weeks of the re-enforcement of the long bus routes in the city.

Most Honiara bus stops always overcrowded with passengers standing at bus-stop for hours. This has also affected students and working class people waiting to travel to their respective schools and work places.

As a result of the difficulties faced, a lot of people are now resort to walk to their destination rather than have to wait for long hours at bus stops

Some have to take two buses to reach their desired destination.

For instance, this paper during a visit to Panatina this week observed that a good number of people waiting at the Panatina Campus bus stop had to catch a bus to Lungga in order to find free seats on buses destined for Central Market, which the writer also did then.

In the meantime, the travelling public of Honiara could still be experiencing the difficulties.