23 Jul 2018

Medicine shortages cripple hospitals in Solomon Islands, PNG

From , 5:04 am on 23 July 2018

Doctors in both Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are complaining of chronic shortages of medicines -- to the point where one major hospital is about to shut down.

The Daru hospital in PNG's Western Province, which serves a catchment of some 200,000 people, has run out of supplies and hasn't been able to pay staff for a long time.

Meanwhile, in Solomon Islands, doctors there say they've been pushed to the brink and have called for the government to declare a state of emergency.

Jamie Tahana has been following developments in both countries, and started by explaining what's been going on in Solomon Islands.