A half-day Disability Inclusion Awareness Training for around 50 participants comprising, health workers both clinicians and public health officers, and administrators at the National Ministry of Health and National Referral Hospital (NRH), was successfully conducted.
The training came about, following recommendations set out by a survey funded by Interplast, in six Pacific Island Countries including the Solomon Islands in 2022-2021 on Gender Equality and Disability Inclusion.
Interplast is an accredited Non -Government Organization with the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) registered by the Australian Charities and Not For Profit Commission.
Since 1984 it has established a relationship with the Ministry of Health, in particular the National Referral Hospital. Through the auspicious of the DFAT Pacific Islands Project, it has provided funding to facilitate surgical programs since 1995.
It has also supported various training aspects of Solomon Islands surgical trainees who undertook their education at Papua New Guinea and Fiji universities, among many other support including nurse education programs and mentoring programs alongside surgical programs.
Based on the survey data and information analysed, it was recommended that the Solomon Islands;
As part of actioning these recommendations, Interplast and its partners had designed the disability inclusion awareness package which targets clinicians, health personnel, and administrators in the promotion of disability inclusion in the health service.
“Today we are here as part of this initiative to attend the pilot disability inclusion awareness package that was developed for us”, said Dr Janella Solomon, NRH Medical Superintendent when opening the training.
She encouraged participants to learn as much as they can from presentations and testimonies of persons with disabilities in their experiences with accessing health services, so to ensure that we do not leave anyone behind, including our groups of people with these special needs.
Dr. Solomon expressed sincere thank you to Interplast and its partners, which includes the Disability Association of Solomon Islands (DPASI) as an organization for people with disabilities in the Solomon Islands to lead the organization of the pilot training and the government’s disability focal point, the National Physiotherapy Rehabilitation Division of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services for implementing the training.
“Thank you indeed to everyone and all organizations contributing one way or the other to this important gathering. Let’s learn, put it into practice what we learn, and ensure that we consider persons with disabilities while making decisions and taking actions so that we continue to improve our service to our people”, stated Dr Solomon.
-MHMS Press