AUSTRALIAN army engineers have returned a damaged hospital on the cyclone-devastated Vanuatu island of Tanna to service.
SOLDIERS from the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment, including plumbers, electricians and carpenters, cleared debris from throughout the Lenakel Hospital, repaired walls and roofs and restored power and clean water.
Tanna was especially hard-hit when Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu last month. Australian Navy landing ship HMAS Tobruk arrived off Tanna in late March to begin relief operations. 3CER commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel John Daunt said reopening Lenakel Hospital was their key task on Tanna and something his troops should be extremely proud of. He said given the destruction across Vanuatu, returning Lenakei to service would have taken months without Australian help. “These are the kind of jobs we love to do. To be able to help a people in desperate need, which the people of Vanuatu were, is not something we would ever shirk from and something the guys love doing,” he said in a statement. Lenakel acting director Robert Moise said the Australian Defence Force had helped save the lives of many people seeking much-needed medical aid. “They worked so quickly and so well to get the operating theatre, maternity ward, labour room, matron service, pharmacy and laundry all back to working condition,” he said in the defence statement. “We have had between 20 and 30 babies delivered here in a clean and safe environment. We had a great team here. We couldn’t have made it without them.”