Emergency responses at the Nabouwalu Hospital in Vanua Levu will be much more prompt and safer now, thanks to the delivery of an ambulance by the charitable arm of Lyndhurst Group of Companies, Katalyst Foundation.
Handed over to the Ministry of Health this week, the arrival of the ambulance is timely particularly in reaching individuals, residing on the fringes of the Nabouwalu lockdown zone, who need emergency care at the Nabouwalu Hospital. Their access to Nabouwalu Hospital was cut off by the lockdown imposed in the greater Nabouwalu area after a Nabouwalu wharf worker tested positive for coronavirus last weekend.
“We know the timing could not have come at a better time, and the Katalyst Foundation is delighted to support the Ministry in its all-out effort to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lyndhurst Group of Companies CEO Rokoseru Nabalarua stated at the handover ceremony.
“After a $34,000 dollar refit including the importation of an engine from New Zealand, this ambulance is back on the road fit as a fiddle and all of us at Katalyst Foundation and the Lyndhurst Group of Companies are proud to be playing our small part in improving medical services in the North.”
Nabalarua who is also the resident Trustee of Katalyst Foundation explained that the ambulance was first donated by Katalyst Foundation to the Nabouwalu Hospital under the Foundation’s core pillar of HEAL in early 2017. The vehicle needed urgent repairs last year. When Katalyst was informed of this development, the vehicle was brought to Viti Levu where it underwent a major overhaul at Asco Motors.
“In fact, the ambulance was ready to return to Bua in April this year but due to the lockdown, we have not been able to do so until today. Our team has also been in consultations with the hospital transport team in Nabouwalu over maintenance and service plans of the ambulance, so we are confident that they will take good care of the vehicle.”
The fully equipped Toyota Land Cruiser was handed over to Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong yesterday.
Photo Caption: Rokoseru Nabalarua (right), Chief Executive Officer of Lyndhurst Group of Companies, with Dr James Fong, Permanent Secretary of health and medical services (centre) in front of the now refurbished Nabouwalu Hospital ambulance. Standing at left is Dr Joji Malani, in-house physician and medical adviser for Lynhurst Group. Courtesy of: Lyndhurst media.
