Naha Health Centre reaches halfway milestone with roofing installed
The construction of the flagship Naha Birthing and Urban Health Centre has reached the halfway mark, with the Birthing Centre roof now complete.
Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Rod Hilton, said the milestone was a significant one for the community and health workers who will soon benefit from a new, first-class birthing and outpatient service for Honiara.
“This project, delivered in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and Honiara City Council, will reduce demand on the National Referral Hospital and provide high quality healthcare close to home.”
“Once the roof is installed across both the birthing and urban health buildings, internal construction and fit out can continue regardless of wet weather, so it’s a critical point in the project.”
Photo 3 – Employment and training of local workers has been a feature of the Naha Birthing and Urban Health Centre project, which has created over 100 local jobs to date
The high-quality roofing sheets have been locally produced by Tongs Hardware, with local workers trained in installation as part of Australia’s commitment to capacity building local workers and creating local jobs wherever possible.
Construction worker James Tari said he has been working as part of a team of four to support the installation.
“I’ve learned so many new things by working alongside the roofing contractor,” Mr Tari said.
“Just watching and learning from their methods has been really valuable. It’s given me the experience and confidence to take on this kind of roofing and plumbing work in the future.”
With the first roof now complete, Bernard Bebeu Angisiau from Tongs’ Roofing Iron Department says they’re now busy preparing sheeting for the second Urban Health Centre roof to be installed next month.
Photo 4 – James Tari says he’s learnt a lot from working on the new Naha Birthing and Urban Health Centre roof
“Tongs Hardware is proud to be supporting the project by supplying nearly five tonnes of Colorbond roofing,” Mr Angisiau said.
A Naha resident, Mr Angisiau says he has a personal connection to the project.
“From what I’ve seen, the Naha Birthing and Urban Health Centre will be a great help to the surrounding communities in this area.”
Mr Hilton said the project was planning ahead to ensure the centre was fitted out with high quality equipment and a workforce trained to operate it immediately after handover.
“Since last year, under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, we’ve been working closely with Honiara City Council and the National Referral Hospital to plan the fit out and human resourcing of the new centre to ensure it’s open for high quality care from day one.”
Currently, nurses and midwives are completing a refresher training course delivered in partnership with the National Referral Hospital.
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AHC statement