The Solomon Islands is grappling with a crisis of major proportions in relation to the transmission of Covid-19 rates and this despite the numerous calls for citizens to become fully vaccinated well before the virus managed to gain entry into the country, given Covid had been present offshore in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and in Bougainville for a lengthy period.
At such a time, there is a need for a bipartisan approach to dealing with the pandemic and less criticism of the approach and measures adopted by the MHMS and the government in tackling the ongoing health crisis.
There seems to be little or no acknowledgment of the early setting up of isolation facilities and an ICU at the NRH, a separate isolation facility at the International Airport provided by Australia, the acquisition of breathing machines from New Zealand, the coordination of aid funding from friendly countries, diplomatic partners and the supply and distribution of personal protection items for front line officials, to say nothing of the early receipt of approved WHO vaccines and then for the timely roll-out.
It is purely my own opinion, but having closely followed how the warning notices were issued of the impending Covid threat for many weeks before the first recorded case of the Coronavirus and then the SOE measures implemented swiftly, I feel there is little justification for the degree of criticism that is happening, other than to say I wish the call for the people to have been vaccinated had been better heeded.
Please let us save politics for another day and let there be the unity that is needed to see to the curtailment of Covid transmissions and ultimately the elimination of the virus.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
