AN ACTION plan has been put together to restore health services in Western Province following the fire that razed the old Gizo hospital last Friday.
The fire has claimed huge losses for the provincial health authority as large amounts of medical supplies, administration documents, computers and other valuable medical items were lost to the fire.
Director of National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), Loti Yates, who is in Gizo this week, said an action plan has been made between the fire disaster task force committee and the Western Provincial government.
“This action plan actually identifies priority action steps that Western Provincial Health services must do to bring back health services in Western Province to what it was like before the fire.
“This burnt down building holds some of the key functions of health services in Western Province, this includes medical store, antenatal and environmental health, Western provincial health administration and mental ward.
“So the building actually does have important functions that have impact in Western Provincial health services,” Mr Yates told local reporters in an interview at Gizo this week.
He said their assessments have identified key priority areas that the Ministry of Health must deal with.
“Firstly is that the nature of this disaster is fire, and made mostly of asbestos materials and there is high risk of asbestos contained in the remains.
“So the police and Western Provincial health services must cordon off this area to ensure that people have no access to that area.
“The second one is to remove those remains, so we give two weeks after support is derived, for the Western Provincial health services clear the whole place and bury the remains,” he said.
The NDMO Director said the actual work plan has been done and costed.
“We are hoping that the nature of this particular disaster people should take serious about and the government will quickly make funding to take actions to address.
“Apart from that is to ensure that services are running smoothly because pharmacy storage, kitchen and laundry were also burnt down.
“These are critical areas to address because it will affect patients at the Gizo hospital and also the pharmacy which catered for all health centres and clinics throughout Western Province.
“The Ministry of Health has immediately responded by sending in a bulk supply of medical drugs but there is no proper storage facility,” Mr Yates said.
The head of NDMO said the Gizo disaster management office and Gizo Red Cross Office will work with the Western Province health Services to execute the action plan.
Mr Yates has also acknowledged the support given by Gizo Red Cross after the fire disaster.
The NDMO Director and the Under Secretary of the Ministry for Environment, Chanel Iroi were in Gizo this week to provide support for the provincial disaster office in Gizo and Western Provincial Health Services over ways to address the aftermath of the old Gizo hospital disaster.
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