Life saving medicines are donated by American pharmaceutical companies to PIMA, or sold at a fraction of their cost to support our effort.

A modest donation goes a long way to help those who are suffering.  These medicines and urgently needed supplies are then put directly into the hands of the Kiribati doctors and nurses who will use them.

Our partnership with hospitals here at home has allowed us to bring more than 100 children and adults to the U.S. for life-altering surgeries, including more than 20 for open-heart surgery.

Three or four times a year we take medicines and medical supplies to the hospital and three medical clinics on Christmas Island; and to the three medical clinics on Fanning and to the sole clinic on Washington … where doctors on Christmas and nurses on the outer islands often have to work without medicines of any kind.

High frequency radio systems PIMA has installed now enable nurses on outer islands in Kiribati to speak with a doctor on the main island during emergencies or to request medicines PIMA has supplied. More are urgently required to deal with life-threatening illness and accidents.

We have installed and maintain a communication system comprised of three 100-watt transceivers (at the nursing stations on each outer island and at the hospital at Christmas) and have installed and maintain separate vhf radios at each nurse’s clinic on each island.

Also, there is no electric grid on Fanning or Washington. We have installed solar-powered lighting at the clinics to operate the radios and give the nurses a little light, but need to improve the system and add lighting to the clinic on Washington Island.

To help reduce enormous suffering and loss of life, we need to establish a flying doctor service to reach the critically ill and suffering people of the Line Islands in Kiribati.

There is an operating airport on Christmas Island, a small hospital, three doctors and several qualified government nurses.  On nearby Fanning  (Tabuaeran) with 3,500 islanders, there is NO doctor, just three nurses.

Fanning is only 183 miles northwest of Christmas, but it might as well be a million miles away when there is a medical emergency requiring a doctor or evacuation to the hospital.  There is a little overgrown airstrip on Fanning that can be cleared.

Likewise, on Washington,(80 miles further northwest)  where there are 1,500 people, there is NO doctor and one nurse … and a little overgrown airstrip that can be cleared.