Nothing is more critical to a countries well-being than its ability to care for its sick and to deliver a healthcare that is fit for purpose, modern, well humanly resourced and one that cares for its people, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

Globally health care has become a political as well as social problem, with governments struggling to find staff, to find budget and resources.

And it’s the old adage, we don’t think about how much we should invest in something until we need it. “It’s only when the well runs dry that we learn the worth of water,” said American President Benjamin Franklin, and in life we learn, it is often not till we desperately need something that we celebrate the fact that it is there.

As it became clear with our Cook Islands health system, when a good friend, Orlando Munro, who had just relocated to Rarotonga, with his Rarotongan wife, Dawn Cuthers Munro, found himself in a serious medical condition. Discovered earlier this week, lying in the sand at the front of Muri Beach Club, with two tourists and Muri Beach Club staff administering CPR and utilising the onsite AED to save his life. (Yes, just like the AED that was reported vandalised just a few days earlier in Muri)

On rushing to the Rarotonga Hospital, with his family already there, we were greeted by staff that were on the ball, and doctors that were doing all they could to save his life and stabilise his vitals. Information was flowing back and forth from the triage room to the family to ensure they were up to date with how this critical emergency was being attended, and from there to the High Dependency Unit, I was utterly impressed with the quality of care and the technical apparatus, support and service my friend received.

This level of care and good practice gave his wife and mother-in-law great comfort, as well as his children that were jumping on planes to join their father in Rarotonga. This was more than just good people doing all they could with the limited resources they had to work with, this was a health system that had invested in its ability to respond and care for its patients, albeit there is always room for more budget, more investment and more nurses and doctors on the ground to deliver this critical and essential healthcare.

According to the Cook Islands Government Finance Statistics report, the total operating expenditure for the fiscal year ending June 2022 was $203.6 million, marking a 25.6 per cent decrease compared to the previous year – mainly due to the recovery from COVID and international borders closing.

Yet in the same fiscal year, health expenditure accounted for 11.5 per cent of the government’s functional expenditure. This figure indicates a sustained commitment to the health sector, even amidst overall budget contractions, and the government’s prioritisation of health services, maintaining significant investment despite the many economic challenges.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr said “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman.” Simply put, a nation that fails to invest in the health of its people is creating a debt it will never be able to pay with the wellbeing of its people. Every nation is grappling with doing better and doing more with the health of its people and the bottom line is there is never enough investment when it comes to the health of our people – there is always room for more.

Nonetheless, the healthcare delivered to my friend, and his ongoing healthcare has been superb, and the Ministry of Health, its frontline staff and directors must be applauded for all they do despite its many challenges. My good friend’s life was saved because of the quick actions of the two tourists riding by on bikes that saw him.

Because of the staff and management at Muri Beach Club, and the AED that Muri Beach Club had on hand. The ambulance attendees, that quickly came to get him, and New Zealand doctor on sabbatical, that attended along with our amazing local doctors. Our amazing nurses, that cared for and prayed for him, as family joined in prayer each and every day for his recovery. On behalf of the family, we are so grateful to God for his recovery and life, and that we live in a nation where praying for the sick, and acknowledging Yashua our God and his healing power, is simply who we are.