The dental van was a hit with staff (and children!)
Reports from 1997-2001
- Radiological development was a major thrust in the early part of this five year period.
- A lack of surgeons marked the nadir of the program. AusAID funded a short term relieving surgeon
- Matching grant #6550 for $US$24,333 is awarded in December 1996
- The first dental RAWCS team visited in 1996, and have visited annually since then.
- The first container of dental equipment is forwarded in May 1997
- AusAID provided the first major grant $100,000.00 to support equipment purchases for the hospital, and $35,000 to support the twinning program. This stimulated an enormous amount of activity and recommendations, and a reversal of the nadir of 1996
- An Australian Dental volunteer would be funded out of the twinning program each year
- The Tongan Health Sector Planning and management program commenced in Sept 1998 for four years. This would work with St.John of God's twinning program. Dr Lynley Evans is appointed team leader
- Dr Bernard Tu'inukuafe reports a case of tetanus ventilated for a month in the ICU to the combined meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Societies of Anaesthesia in Dunedin. What a fantastic effort.
- Matching Grant #7514 for ($US19,464) is awarded to repair the Nurses home. this is undertaken by Australian and NZ teams of RAWCS volunteers
- Dr Greg Henderson (anaesthetist Ballarat) reviews donated goods in the hospital pharmacy. He clears out clutter of useless donated equipment which has been interfering with the running of Pharmacy. It cost $4,000 to fund a container to bring this useless equipment back to Australia, where it can be disposed.
- Mr Bill Tangi, surgeon is appointed Minister of Health. Bill was a senior registrar when the program first started. His appointment provides a great opportunity for the Twinning Program
- Matching Grant #9817 for$45,000 is granted to fund the purchase of a laser for ophthalmology, 300 lenses for cataract surgery etc.
- The dental van is shipped
- The twinning program is renewed for a further three years in 1999, and becomes more formalised.
- Dr Michael Toohey, who has given advice on equipment such as the laser (above) makes his first visit to Tonga in August 1999. This will become almost an annual event, and though not directly involving the twinning program, Michael's AusAID funded Pacific Island Project will move in a parallel fashion, with yearly visits and significant cross fertilisation.
- Donations in Kind in Geelong are involved for the first time, and they too will have a continuing relationship with the project. Each year since 2000, we have shipped one to two containers to Tonga via DIK, and in 2007, the DIK head Anton van Doornik has joined the dental RAWCS team.
- Carl Miller Discovery Grant #0764 is awarded to assess ways to improve the quality of water to the Vaiola hospital. The recommendations of this committee led to MG#18877 to fund programmes to, inter alia, catch and divert rain to the laundry, and install water softeners. The work would be undertaken by RAWCS teams from throughout Australia and NZ. The processing of this Grant application was slow, as the Foundation were swamped with other applications.