Help save Solomon Island's only vet!
Donation protected
The only veterinarian in Honiara, Dr. Anita desperately needs our help! Every animal in this country is depending on him and his service!
My name is Allison, I live in Honiara with my husband, 3 dogs, 1 cat and 14 chickens. With Michelle, another Honiara resident, who lost her much loved dog because Dr Anita was so unwell, need our Vet. We are just two people among so many others and their pets and livestock, who rely on Dr Anita and his life saving services.
Solomon Islands is made up of over 900 islands and is just a short 3 hour flight away from Brisbane, Australia however the medical services and medicine supply could be compared to a world away. The government funded medical services are extremely limited and over stretched and a significant proportion of the population rely on subsistence farming and and have limited disposable income.
Anyone with chronic medical conditions are either forced to source their own equipment and medicines, at great cost, from Australia or Fiji or use the government run hospital and risk the real possibility of no treatment due to a shortage of trained medical personnel, a lack of equipment or a lack of medicines.
Dr Anita has chronic kidney disease and undergoes dialysis every day, while he waits for a new kidney. He uses an at home treatment called peritoneal dialysis. A small soft tube (catheter) is surgically inserted into the belly and this tube allows for the exchange of fluids. Clean fluid goes in and waste fluid comes out. Dr Anita has to buy his own medicine and ships this in from Australia.
Dr Anita's dialysis takes 3 bags of fluid per day, that is 90 bags in one month. He needs two different types of dialysis fluid, each bag is 2000 ml and they come in a box of 6 bags.
Every month Dr Anita needs 10 boxes of Baxter Freeline Solo PD 2.5% Glucose, this is $125 AUD per box or $1,250 AUD for one month's supply. Dr Anita also needs 5 boxes of Freeline Solo PD Extraneal 7.5% which is $455 AUD per box, which amounts to $2,275 AUD for one month's supply.
That's a total of 15 boxes at $3,525.00 AUD every month in medicine alone and then there is the cost freight to ship this vital medicine from Australia to the Solomon Islands. Due to the weight of so much medicine, airfreight is impossible so sea freight is used, the average delivery time is 6 weeks at a minimum and at a cost of approximately $900 AUD for one month's supply.
While Dr Anita is undergoing his dialysis he cannot treat our much loved animals as often as he once did, but he has been invaluable with phone advice, online services and short visits to the clinic. Dr Anita's veterinarian assistant, Mary, has been keeping his surgery alive through dispensing over the counter medicines, feeding and caring for the animals in the hospital and scheduling appointments around the Doctor's dialysis. His treatment drastically affects his ability to perform regular surgeries, which I might point out are charged at extremely low rates when compared to the Western world. He offers veterinarian services to all... not just those of us that can afford it. In his current situation the income generated from his veterinary practice is insufficient to cover the cost of the medical treatment he requires.
We need our Vet! Our animals need our Vet! Our farmers need our Vet!
If you can donate the price of your next cup of coffee or bottled water, the pet owners and livestock farmers of Solomon Islands will be forever grateful.
My name is Allison, I live in Honiara with my husband, 3 dogs, 1 cat and 14 chickens. With Michelle, another Honiara resident, who lost her much loved dog because Dr Anita was so unwell, need our Vet. We are just two people among so many others and their pets and livestock, who rely on Dr Anita and his life saving services.
Solomon Islands is made up of over 900 islands and is just a short 3 hour flight away from Brisbane, Australia however the medical services and medicine supply could be compared to a world away. The government funded medical services are extremely limited and over stretched and a significant proportion of the population rely on subsistence farming and and have limited disposable income.
Anyone with chronic medical conditions are either forced to source their own equipment and medicines, at great cost, from Australia or Fiji or use the government run hospital and risk the real possibility of no treatment due to a shortage of trained medical personnel, a lack of equipment or a lack of medicines.
Dr Anita has chronic kidney disease and undergoes dialysis every day, while he waits for a new kidney. He uses an at home treatment called peritoneal dialysis. A small soft tube (catheter) is surgically inserted into the belly and this tube allows for the exchange of fluids. Clean fluid goes in and waste fluid comes out. Dr Anita has to buy his own medicine and ships this in from Australia.
Dr Anita's dialysis takes 3 bags of fluid per day, that is 90 bags in one month. He needs two different types of dialysis fluid, each bag is 2000 ml and they come in a box of 6 bags.
Every month Dr Anita needs 10 boxes of Baxter Freeline Solo PD 2.5% Glucose, this is $125 AUD per box or $1,250 AUD for one month's supply. Dr Anita also needs 5 boxes of Freeline Solo PD Extraneal 7.5% which is $455 AUD per box, which amounts to $2,275 AUD for one month's supply.
That's a total of 15 boxes at $3,525.00 AUD every month in medicine alone and then there is the cost freight to ship this vital medicine from Australia to the Solomon Islands. Due to the weight of so much medicine, airfreight is impossible so sea freight is used, the average delivery time is 6 weeks at a minimum and at a cost of approximately $900 AUD for one month's supply.
While Dr Anita is undergoing his dialysis he cannot treat our much loved animals as often as he once did, but he has been invaluable with phone advice, online services and short visits to the clinic. Dr Anita's veterinarian assistant, Mary, has been keeping his surgery alive through dispensing over the counter medicines, feeding and caring for the animals in the hospital and scheduling appointments around the Doctor's dialysis. His treatment drastically affects his ability to perform regular surgeries, which I might point out are charged at extremely low rates when compared to the Western world. He offers veterinarian services to all... not just those of us that can afford it. In his current situation the income generated from his veterinary practice is insufficient to cover the cost of the medical treatment he requires.
We need our Vet! Our animals need our Vet! Our farmers need our Vet!
If you can donate the price of your next cup of coffee or bottled water, the pet owners and livestock farmers of Solomon Islands will be forever grateful.
Organizer
Allison Delvendiep
Organizer
Walliebum, QLD