DESPITE clarifications from the Director of the country’s national training unit, parents and public are still not satisfied.

Island Sun ran a story on Wednesday in which Director Clement Tito clarified queries which have been used to criticise his office on the issue of medical clearance.

Recipients of Solomon Islands Government scholarships are required to attain medical clearance from any of three clinics recommended by the national training unit (NTU).

However, parents and public came out in social media, mostly in the popular civil group Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) Facebook page, to voice their dismay at the exorbitant fees for medical clearance from the clinics.

The fees are purportedly from $250 to $500, which public say are beyond realistic affordability for average earning parents who turn to the Government scholarship scheme as their knight in shining armour.

Island Sun sought NTU Director Tito for clarifications on the issue, which was published on Wednesday this week, and his message was that recommending of the three clinics was to bring about some means of standardising the medical clearance system and to make it ‘more manageable’.

He explained that the old system had been confusing, very costly, and had lowered the integrity of the medical clearance system for SIG scholarship.

Tito justified his office’s decision to narrow down the sites of medical clearance to three, saying that it is more manageable being easy to back-track medical reports of students to the clinics from which they received their clearance.

This he compares to the past, which he said was impossible as medical clearances were stamped by almost anyone and that even nurses were reported as having stamped clearances.

However, in FSII’s page concerned public and parents retort that Director Tito’s explanations were not enough and that most questions raised had not been answered.

One parent, who requested anonymity in fear of repercussions to his children on SIG scholarships, told Island Sun that the Director’s media statements had failed to rationalise why only three clinics are recommended when there are a lot of medical practitioners available who can provide the same service.

Furthermore, he said that NTU’s decision to approve only three clinics gives way to a monopoly which sees fees for clearances warping sky-high.

Director Tito could not be contacted for comments.