In a letter I wrote to the local media yesterday, I quoted comments said to have been made by local Radiologist Dr. Aaron Oritaemae and recorded in an article in the Solomon Star newspaper, and I quote the extract.
The mammogram machine was the only one at the NRH and it was donated by the First Lady’s charity group in 2014. Between 2014 and 2018 a total of 1,000 women did tests for breast cancer using that machine. Data from those tests showed that almost 30% of young women between the age of 30 and 40 tested positive for breast cancer and some are lucky to get treated.
Dr Aaron Oritaemae said, breast cancer is the second killer for women in the country
End of Quote
I went on to comment comment
“I would strongly urge all women in the Solomon Islands to please have regular mammogram examinations to check for the presence of any breast cancer risk, as early diagnosis is essential to effective treatment.
“A second mammogram machine seems to be desirable, and likely, essential for use at the NRH. I would hope either Australia or New Zealand could donate one.”
In a letter I received this morning, I was informed that the mammogram Dr Oritaemae referred to is broken down at the NRH due to a “lack of maintenance.”
I can’t vouch for the reliability of the information but, if true, there is a great risk posed for women in the Solomon Islands that should receive regular testing for breast cancer.
My partner charity, ‘Take My Hands, more than a year ago proposed a maintenance project for the NRH with the help of volunteer workers from one of New Zealand’s Univrsities. The volunteers were prepared to travel to Honiara and supervise maintenance programmes for vital equipment, such as a mammogram machine, and also help train local NRH personnel in undertaking regular checks and servicing of equipment.
The then CEO of the NRH was enthusiastic of the offer but nothing materialized from others in the NRH’s management team and ultimately the volunteers decided to go to Tonga to help at the main hospital.
The Solomon Islands is now known to have a population of 700,000, and one growing fast, but the challenges of Non-communicable disease are rising equally rapidly, including cancer, and all in the face of significant economic, cultural unawareness and major health service challenges.
It is my knowledge that breast and cervical cancer remain the first and second most commonly identified cancers in the Solomon Islands.
The Solomons cancer registry is hospital based and suffers from incomplete data collection due to its passive nature, lack of resources for data entry and processing resulting in weak data which is rarely used for decision-making.
A health system audit revealed system and individual reasons for delayed diagnosis or lack of cancer treatment or palliation in the Solomon Islands. The Reasons included a lack of patient knowledge regarding symptoms, late referrals to the National Referral Hospital and the inability of health care workers to detect cancers either due to lack of skills to do so, or lack of diagnostic capabilities, and an overall lack of access to any health care, due to geographical barriers and overall national economic fragility.
Dr.Claude Posola writing in yesterday’s edition of the Solomon Star newspaper highlighted his serious concern over the rate of NCDs in the country, much as I have been saying for some considerable time.
Indeed, the Prime Minister comparatively recently wrote about his own concerns over the spate of NCDs and of the impact on the health of citizens, the drain put on financial resources in tackling the NCD challenges and the overall strain on the medical services, especially on the NRH.
Dr Posola mentioned, yesterday, the number of amputations undertaken week on week arising from complications to patients having contracted diabetes. Those details were shocking and add to my concern as to why the modular building gifted to the NRH, following an appeal I made and paid for by the kind help of the SFA Board, has not yet been converted to a Rehabilitation Workshop for the manufacture and fitting of artificial limbs to the many hundreds of former patients of the NRH who have undergone amputations of the lower limbs.
Yes, I know the NRH administration has proposed and extension to the modular building to accommodate a holding unit for patients suffering from some mental disability, but why the delay since the modular building was delivered to the NRH last September?
Again, ‘Take My Hands’ stands ready to help the NRH once the Rehabilitation Workshop is functional with practical help. training, manufacture of prosthetics and even with the supply of tools, all backed with additional support from Limbless Associations in New Zealand.
NCDs and the consequences to the population in the Solomon Islands are a growing threat and something must be done, and soon, to stem the rising tide of diseases which are directly attributed to NCD’s being largely neglected and the lack of public awareness of the danger signals, especially in regard to diet, exercise, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption.
