Horsham Rotarians Jack and Marie Knight will be part
of our Solomons dental team and Days for Girls project.
Here in Ballarat with their donations.
There is a project underway right now, which should be an of a National if not International significance which goes right to the heart of what we Rotarians are all about.
Giving and neutering the less fortunate.
This project was instigated within our very own club member at Ballarat West, past President Dr. David Goldsmith.
Team Leader: Dr. David Goldsmith, Fellow of the International College of Dentists and member of the Rotary Club of Ballarat West who has successfully led similar projects in the Pacific Islands and dental health education projects in Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Fiji, and Vanuatu
In an application to the Solomon Island Government Dr, Goldsmith said, "There is an urgent need for a central dental facility to provide a more comprehensive dental treatment service to the public, but this is restricted by a lack of functional dental infrastructure."
The National Referral Hospital in Honiara and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and their staff will train the local Biomedical engineer and include the dental staff in dental surgery installations and maintenance procedures as part of this project.
"A suitable building has been allocated to provide such a service by the NRH but the MOH has neither the funding nor the expertise to provide such a facility, so We have an experienced team in Australia, prepared to lead and service the project."
"We have accumulated donations of a large amount of very good dental equipment, sufficient to make this desperately needed facility a reality (estimated market value well over $250,000). Ready to install, we have also have been assured that there are enough local dentists and dental specialists to service such a Clinic and more Solomon Island dentists are currently being trained at the Fiji National University."
"This new facility will be the professional center from which all dental health promotion will be directed for the whole nation. However, at present, this is not covered as part of this project."
There are trained dentists and dental specialists in the Solomon Islands with no proper facilities and as a result, they are losing their skills. In addition, there are dental students from the Solomon Islands in the pipeline at the Fiji National University School; of Oral Health and soon due to graduate.
The National Referral Hospital in Central Honiara management has pledged to fund all future costs for salaries and expenses to keep the facility sustainable into the future.
Dr. Goldsmith went on to say "a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and National Referral Hospital. An MOU has also been signed with the Rotary Club of Honiara to provide logistical and other support if needed.
A total of $16,000 from the Rotary Clubs of Ballarat West and Berwick has been pledged. No other external organization funds have so far been involved in this project.
Further applications have been made to these two clubs for funding to cover two shipping containers to transport donated dental equipment and supplies from Adelaide and Melbourne to Honiara but not yet confirmed.
"Assuming no force majeure, such as extreme weather events and availability of volunteers, a container of equipment should reach the Solomon Islands by May and we anticipate being able to take a team out to equip and train in July/ August 2019. The project should be completed in 2019, Dr. Goldsmith said."