Nurses stranded and allegedly living poor in Vanuatu
New Zealand today reported that twenty Solomon Islands nationals are stranded in Port Vila in Vanuatu, due to Covid-19.
The group includes six children.
The rest are volunteer nurses who came to Vanuatu several years after the respective governments came to an agreement amid a nursing shortage.
Their contracts lapsed in July, but they are still waiting for the Vanuatu Government to repatriate them, after promises this would happen on several occasions last month.
Now, RNZ Pacific's correspondent in Vanuatu reports they have been told they will be flown home in November.
The group is struggling financially because they no longer have income to rely on.
One, Hedley Toata, said they are facing psychological hardship, wondering how they will feed their families, both back home in the Solomons and in Vanuatu.
He said they have had to rely on food from ni-Vanuatu friends and the Solomon Islands Association based in Port Vila.
Mr,Toata said they signed a work contract for two years but this cannot be renewed.
There are currently 100 Solomons nurses working in Vanuatu.
Source. Radio New Zealand
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
