All National Referral Hospital (NRH) vehicle fleet in Honiara should have protective steel mesh security grills around them just like Police and Correctional vehicles.
The suggestion was made following the stoning incident over the weekend of a land-cruiser owned by the Emergency Department (ED) at NRH.
The incident occurred at the FFA Road Junction West Kola’a Ridge, Central Honiara early Sunday morning between 1-2am.
The vehicle was dropping off doctors and nurses after their 11pm shift when an unknown person deliberately threw a stone at the landcruiser.
The stone hit the front bonnet, bounced off and hit the windscreen causing it to crack.
Fortunately, the stone did not went through the glass windscreen.
The matter was reported to Naha police and for further investigation.
An ED senior officer said, that incident should be a wake up call for the government through the Ministry of Health to ensure all hospital vehicles are being protected by fixing nets (mesh wire grills) around the land-cruisers and buses.
ED was gifted with the landcruiser thanks to the Ministry of Infrastructure Department (MID) in March this year to ease the transportation challenging facing its staff.
The land-cruiser is being garaged as the department is trying to replace the damaged windscreen fixed.
In the meantime, a dedicated vehicle has been temporarily issued to the emergency department by the hospital management.
Its not the first time such stoning incident happened to hospital vehicles.
The medical officer the latest situation as a sad story because health workers who are working to save lives are being targeted.
“Because of this its important that consideration must be made by authorities to ensure all hospital vehicles are safeguarded at all cost.
“If some of the Police and Correctional vehicles are being protected with the steel nets placed around the vehicle, why not protect all hospital vehicles because they normally visit the outskirts of Honiara which can be unfriendly.
“Even if it costs money to do this, the lives of our doctors and nurses are more important,” the officer concluded.
Each day and night, hospital vehicles normally move around Honiara to pick-up and drop-off medical staff.
Lead Photo caption: The broken windscreen of the ED Landcruiser.
