To'abaita Authority for Research & Development (TARD)

[P.O Box 13, Honiara, Solomon Islands/ Email: tar_development@yahoo.com/ Tel:+677 7424025]

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

AFAP donated medical supplies for North Malaita clinics await clearance from Customs in Honiara

The container of medical supplies being donated by Australian non-government organisation (NGO), the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP), to seven rural clinics in North Malaita as a community project by TARD is currently at the Point Cruz Wharf awaiting Customs clearance by the Rotary Club in Honiara.

A call to Mr Roy Hall, leader of the Rotary Club Honiara revealed that the container has already reached Honiara around May 15 after departing Australia on April 28. He stated that they are now in the process of clearing the container through Customs before taking it to a rotary site near the Malaria Research Centre in Kukum. From there, TARD will collect the supplies and transport them from Honiara to North Malaita to be delivered to the beneficiary clinics during the week from Monday 11th-Saturday 17th 2007.

The seven health centres in North Malaita that will benefit from this assistance include Arao and Sulagwalu clinics in the Lau/Baelelea Constituency and Fo'ondo, Bita'ama, Gwaiau, Orukalia, and Malu'u clinics in the North Malaita Constituency.

Some of the supplies bound for North Malaita range from 4 drawer filing cabinets, bedside cabinets, IV stands, patient trolleys, plastic chairs, children's wheelchairs, mattresses, boxes of assorted medical supplies, boxes of syringes, boxes of needles, boxes of spectacles, boxes of birthing kits and so on.

The request was formulated after witnessing the need for further medical supply enhancement in North Malaita while delivering forty boxes of medical supplies donated by the Medical Aid Abroad of New Zealand to four rural clinics late last year. The application was channeled through the AFAP office in Honiara which then forwarded the proposal to Australia. This assistance is made available under AFAP’s Medical Supplies and Services program.

AFAP is an innovative non-profit overseas aid organisation based out of Sydney that aims to make a positive difference to the lives of people throughout Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Some of the projects that AFAP has already implemented in the Solomon Islands include the regional South Pacific integrated development program; building livelihoods, empowerment and strategic sustainability program; disaster preparedness program; and internally displaced person (IDP) resettlement program.

TARD is adament that this project will further enhance the service delivery at the beneficiary clinics as four of the clinics (Malu'u, Bita'ama, Fo'ondo & Gwaiau) have also benefited from a similar donation from the Medical Aid Abroad New Zealand organisation late last year in partnership with TARD.

TARD is therefore grateful to the AFAP, on behalf of the North Malaita people for this generous donation as well as covering the shipping costs from Australia to Honiara and ensuring to meet the Customs clearance costs in Honiara.

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