inside Kaveing Ora Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
A former New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands says a new mobile health clinic for Rarotonga has been designed for use in disasters.
Kaveinga Ora will begin replacing the island's 27 medical centres this week as it starts service for the island's 13,000 people.
The refurbished bus had been two years in the making and was made possible through the efforts of Rotary clubs in New Zealand, Rarotonga and worldwide.
The retired diplomat Nick Hurley hadbeen in Rarotonga for the service's launch that his wife Christine helped instigate.
He said it was designed for the island's conditions, "they used a number of specialists for things like making it able to be used in times of natural disasters. So it could operate three days without any external power with air-conditioning, or five days without. It could still operate with refrigerated space in there for people who might be needing urgent attention."