BY JOY OFASIA
SOLOMON Islands do not have the capacity to do official organ transplants, according to Dr. Janella Solomon, Medical Superintendent of the National Referral Hospital in Honiara.
This was emphasized by Dr. Janella Solomon, Medical Superintendent of the National Referral Hospital (NRH), during a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) yesterday afternoon between government ministry representatives and the media concerning abduction incidents in Honiara.
Dr. Janella explained that transplantation is very expensive, and in the Solomon Islands, we do not have any intensive care units and do not have the professionals to do pre-information during and post-transplantation.
“The level in our country at the National Referral Hospital cannot do organ transplants; even to hire someone from overseas to do organ transplants, we do not have the money,” she said.
Dr. Janella explained that organ harvesting can be for organ transplants or can be used for research.
She said that an organ transplant is when removing an organ from a person and putting it in another person’s body, so there has to be a donor and there has to be a recipient.
“For an organ transplant, it has to happen in a hospital, which means that the person must be a dead patient in the hospital inside a facility that has an intensive care unit.”
“Before that organ transplant, there has to be some information and some consent given for the organ to be transplanted or donated to someone during the transplant and after the transplant because there has to be a process to match the donor and the recipient so that after the transplant there has to be no reaction.”
The NRH Medical Superintendent reassures the public that none of the health professionals, including doctors, nurses, and even consultants, can do organ harvesting or transplant.
“To the public, whether you are in Honiara or out there in the provinces, none of our doctors in the country or the nurses are capable of performing donor transplants or harvesting organs. This has to be done in a proper, well-equipped facility, which we do not have in the country’s hospitals. And it is not possible to do it in a private clinic or in a car. None of the health professionals, including doctors and nurses and even consultants, will be able to do organ harvesting or transplant,” said Dr. Janella.
