Tuasivi hospital in Samoa has been given a facelift as part of a $US6.5 million donor grant to improve the health sector.
Baby Good 3d Ultrasound Photo: (Flickr user shannonpatrick17 CC BY 2.0)
The new facilities include an emergency room, a maternity ward, a pharmacy, a dental clinic, an extended eye clinic, a medical record's room and rooms for community services.
A new digital x-ray machine and a state of the art ultra sound machine have also been installed.
The project was funded by New Zealand, Australia and the World Bank and is expected to give about 46,000 residents on the island of Savai'i access to quality health care.
Our correspondent Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia said the facelift would help locals get treatment not previously available to them.
"[It's] for people to get easier access to services previously supplied by the main hospital in Apia," said Autagavaia.
"Now Tuasivi has those services like the x-ray, the dentist, the operating theatre so for non critical cases it is being dealt with by doctors on Savai'i unless there is a critical case which will then be referred on to the main hospital in Apia." he said.
RNZ Pacific's Samoa correspondent Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia.
The Tuasivi hospital manager Pili Aliisolia Alatimu told the Samoa Observer the facelift was about people receiving the best medical care with the available resources.
There are also plans for a new admission ward with 30 extra beds.
