Nila Clinic Isolation Unit – a welcome development

55-year-old Maria Isabel was born and raised in Sapusapuwae community, a village made up of less than 10 houses, near Nila station.

She later married and accompanied her husband who live at his village in Toumoa, on a nearby island, but then moved back to Sapusapuwae so that her grandchildren and children could attain an education at the Roman Catholic run schools in Nila.

Maria was baking coconut scones in her kitchen on a rainy afternoon in Sapusapuwae when we approached her. She dusts off the flour from her hands and gestures for us to go into her kitchen.

“Are you here with the group that is building the new isolation unit?” She asks with a wide toothy grin. We nod and she continues “During COVID, my family and relatives in the village heard stories about how people overseas were suffering and dying from this new and deadly illness and so we were equally afraid when we found out we had some patients sick with Covid at the Nila Clinic. We didn’t move around much unless we urgently needed food and other basic necessities from the shop.

“They (Covid patients) were isolated at the building just next to the road that we use to go to the shop, school, church and to access the main clinic, and so walking past was a challenge. Most of the times we took the path through the bush to avoid the buildings the Covid patients were in, just so we didn’t catch the deadly flu.

“We are happy that the isolation unit will be located away from the public road that we use. Overall, it will help us, the people of Shortlands as we now have a secure place where we can look after and nurse our sick patients comfortably without posing any risk to the public,” said Maria Isabel.

The isolation unit at Nila clinic is one of 3 the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is building. The other 2 are at the Good Samaritan Hospital at Tetere on Guadalcanal and at the Helena Godlie Hospital, worth around sbd$16.8 million dollars, financed by the World Bank through the Project Management Unit. The assistance is part of enhancing capacities and capabilities to respond more effectively to COVID-19 and future outbreaks of diseases and infections as well as strengthening the health system.

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Email: Esther Nuria at ENuria@moh.gov.sb  or Rosalie Nongebatu at RNongebatu@moh.gov.sb