Northern Provincial Hospital

 

The hospital in Luganville is on top of the hill behind the town and generally has the benefit of a cool sea breeze. It has recently been refurbished by the French and is clean and bright with good equipment.
The hospital has good nursing staff who are knowledgeable and  have a good standard of nursing care. There are several nurse practitioners who run the operating theatre, anaesthetics, out patients, diabetes and hypertension and emergency. There is three Nivanuatu doctors, a surgeon (just back from 2 months leave), a reproductive health specialist and an opthalmologist. Dr Fred is a locum American surgeon who generally lives in Fiji, 4 Chinese doctors a physician, a paediatrician, a surgeon and an acupuncturist (who are all a little elusive and practice some unconventional medicine).

Patients lining up to register in OPD

In Out patients there is Dr Dastura a Phillipina doctor who came as a UNV volunteer 27 years ago and never left, 3 NiVanuatu Nurse practitioners and myself.
The patients pay about £2 a consultation (Taxi fare is £1.50) which covers consultation, investigations and medicine and we see each by number as in the old fashioned pre appointment general practice.
The patients have classical Family practice problems of respiratory infections not getting better, back problems, stomach ache, fever and gynaecological problems. There are a few cases of malaria and many tropical sores with even cases of some yaws. Inevitably there are a few people with colds for a day or two wanting antibiotics and certificates.
We have excellent Xrays available with 30 minutes and also ultrasound. The laboratory gives an excellent if limited service and again results are available within an hour or two. I saw one patient wit Dr Dastura and 2 hours later had her blood tests, chest Xray and Ultra sound results on the table. I have never had such a good service in 30 years of practice!!!!

Patients often sit outside as it is cooler and of course there is more room for the relatives who do a degree of the caring.
Fortunately the walkways are covered which protects from the sun and the occasional tropical downpour.




I am getting by with Bislama which is similar to Solomon Pidgin. However I am having difficulty in working out what the differences are. My deafness doesn't help when trying to sort out some of the more intricate social domestic problems. However everyone is very tolerant and encouraging. I am being involved in the Nurse Practitioner training school which is very rewarding.

Sometimes things are not very clear and it takes a while to understand why something happens or the normal way of doing things. This road sign at the entrance of the hospital kind of represents this. It makes sense if you stand back and see what was intended but looks odd at first glance.