FORMER Prime Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo, has suggested that the National Referral Hospital (NRH) be converted into an autonomous body with an independent Board and budget.

His suggestion came in the light of revelation that Kilu’ufi Hospital on Malaita and Gizo Hospital in Western Province have budgetary allocations separate from provincial government grants. The National Referral Hospital does not enjoy such privileges.

Instead every single request for funding even in emergency situation has to go through the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

When told of the situation yesterday, Mr Lilo said, “The answer lies in converting the National Referral Hospital into an autonomous body. That body would have a Board to administer the hospital’s affairs and an annual budget.

“Such an arrangement would ensure the hospital receives government funding separately each year. It would also attract donor support because any support whether it is financial or in-kind would go directly to the hospital.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official of the National Referral Hospital said the hospital’s work is being hum-strung by the current arrangement.

“Every single item the hospital needs even in emergencies has to go through the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. Doctors and even the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital do not have the authority to approve anything with funding implications,” the official said.

He said the guys down at Finance do not accord the same urgency to requests by the hospital, especially in emergency cases. It could take days, sometimes,” the official said.

For example, the heavy downpours in Honiara in the last two days had forced hospital authorities to close down the operating theatres because part of the roofing had carved in.

“We could authorise urgent repairs because we are not allowed to do so. Now an assessment would have to be done before repair work is approved, again by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury,” the official said.

In another incident which happened recently, the air-conditioning system in the theatre simply went off in the middle of an operation, with little or nothing doctors could do.

“That was around 2am.”

“These are real life-threatening situation, which the hospital does not have the authority to deal with on the sport because everything had to be approved by Treasury first,” the officer said.

Former Prime Minister Lilo said the Ministry of Health and Medical Services ought to move quickly in preparing the paperwork for the conversion of the hospital into an autonomous body with its own Board and budget.

The Hospital is understood to be working on amending sections of the National Referral Hospital Act with a view to incorporating a clause which provides for converting the hospital into an independent autonomous body.