The Tatamba medical clinic reported to be still closed and in disrepair after several years since reporting on the condition of the facility
In March 2017 I wrote to the local media in the Solomon Islands about the impact the closure of the rural health service clinic at Tatamba in Isabel Province was affecting the daily health needs of a community of between 7 to 9 thousand people.
The clinic fell into disrepair after years of a lack of maintenance and white ant infestation.
I told how many women, including those that were pregnant, were having to travel to Poro Clinic, some 11.5 miles away from Tatamba to get medical treatment and often by open boats in bad weather and rough sea conditions.
News has reached me in the last couple of days that nothing has changed and the Tatamba clinic is still lying derelict and sick people disadvantaged as previously.
I am also told there is a need for wave breakers or concrete blocks to act as wave breakers put at the wharf to prevent what is left of the Tatamba building being totally destroyed by sea rise.
I reported a similar situation only a couple of weeks ago at Visale where the shoreline in front of the rural clinic is being washed away to the extent that the old clinic building serving the needs of several communities since the 1930s is likely to disappear soon unless action is taken to stop the rising sea and repair the facility.
In respect of the Tatamba situation it is hoped some charitable person or local organisation will take action to construct a breakwater, in the absence of the work being undertaken by the provincial authority.
In respect of the Tatamba clinic it is perhaps the responsibility of the Isabel Provincial government to assess what is needed to restore the clinic to serviceability and I very much hope that will be done because the fundamental rights to help care of the people have been neglected for far too long in the Tatamba and Huali communities,
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
