New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Murray McCully has announced that New Zealand will send a medical assistance team to Solomon Islands to assist the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in meeting urgent medical needs following the recent flooding.
The team will also support the ministry of health and medical services to provide medical support to affected areas, including in the evacuation centres.
“The main hospital in Honiara is stretched after the recent flooding and there is a very serious risk of waterborne disease spreading around the capital,” Mr McCully said.
“We will be deploying two New Zealand health teams, on separate rotations, to assist the local authorities. The teams will consist of up to ten people, including; emergency management doctors and nurses, logisticians and support staff” Mr McCully said.
The first medical assistance team rotation will start work in Honiara on Thursday 16 April. New Zealand’s contribution to relief and recovery efforts in Solomon Islands now totals SBD$16.3 million.
New Zealand last deployed medical assistance team members to the Solomon Islands in response to the Dengue outbreak in April 2013.
