‘The right thing to do’
Volunteers conduct massive clean-up of Navua Hospital
MORE than 50 volunteers from Raiwaqa Settlement equipped with brush cutters, water blasters and brooms conducted a huge cleanup of the Navua Hospital surroundings yesterday.
Hospital acting divisional medical officer Dr Doreen Mani said the show of force despite inclement weather was a huge boost for the hospital.
She said the clean-up was an initiative by the new Board of
Visitors of the Navua Hospital and other stakeholders led by the Raiwaqa Alta youth group from Navua.
“After such a long time, this was a first clean-up being done at the hospital and we thank the new Board of Visitors for this great initiative,” Dr Mani said.
“The community came together at 7 o’clock in the morning with brush cutters and water blasters to clean the hospital surroundings, and we cannot thank them enough.
“We didn’t expect this many
people today (yesterday) and we are hoping to continue with this throughout the year.”
Raiwaqa Alta group club leader Romal Lal said all 33 members, including their family members, joined in on the cleanup because “it was the right thing to do”.
“We were approached by the board to help clean the Hospital surroundings so we said OK we will do it,” he said.
“We had some sponsors who funded some of the food and Amrit Lal, who is the board chair, sponsored some of the equipment, including some grass cutters.
“We are doing this free of charge because we love doing community work and we urge other youth groups out there to also engage themselves in areas where they can give back to the community.”
Komal Ram - a member of the Navua Hospital Board of Visitor’s who also participated in the clean-up - acknowledged the youth group’s efforts.
“We reached out to the Raiwaqa community and they came in huge numbers,” she said.
“This is one of the first project by the board and there will be more because our first priority is the safety and well being of the patients.”