These are tough times and with Samoa’s economy still in the doldrums, as it attempts to recover and rebuild following the COVID-19 pandemic, the public purse will come under increasing pressure as the Government of the day works to roll out basic services to the general public.

Therefore the article (Lack of funding affects new S.R.O.S. division) in yesterday’s edition of the Samoa Observer shouldn’t come as a surprise. The article reported on the lack of grant funding to enable the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (S.R.O.S.) to open its molecular testing division. Under the organisation's expansion plans, the new division was to operate out of what used to be the MedCen hospital facility at Vailima, following its launching last year.

However, the S.R.O.S. Acting Chief Executive Officer, Fa'aea Talila'i told Samoa Observer in an interview that they received a funding allocation of SAT$250,000 from the Government but it is not enough as the old building needs to be fully renovated. 

"And you know how S.R.O.S. depends on grants from the Government and currently we don't have enough grants because of the (current) condition of the building which is not safe for use yet so we need to renovate it properly to house this new division but the problem is that no funding.

"We don't have that many savings too and there were people who came with their values for the renovation and that but none of them came with a value that's below a million. It's always above a million so S.R.O.S doesn't know what to do with it but that's why there's been no work because there's no money yet to renovate it."

You have to feel for the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, and how tough she must be finding it, trying to tick the boxes of one of her major key performance indicators as the interim boss. But why shouldn’t the S.R.O.S. be given funding for the old MedCen hospital facility to be fully renovated so the molecular testing services division can be set up in line with the current Government’s priorities?

In July last year, at the official unveiling of the new S.R.O.S. division, the functions of the new division were also unveiled to show its importance not only to Samoa’s biosecurity but also to the fight against hard drugs. The facility was to be used to test for human pathogens, animal pathogens, paternity and genealogical tests, drugs and narcotics as well as prompt workplace drug testing (W.D.T.) programs. Under the W.D.T. program, government offices and officials were to undergo drug tests with the Public Service Commission (P.S.C.), Ministry of Private Enterprises (M.P.E.) and the Police taking the lead.

The link between the funding woes facing the S.R.O.S. and its attempts to set up the division is the arrest and charging of a manager with the State-owned entity, Samoa National Provident Fund (S.N.P.F.) for drug possession last month. In fact, the arrest and charging of the S.N.P.F. manager come 7–8 months after the jailing of the former assistant electoral commissioner of Samoa, by the Supreme Court for drugs and ammunition possession.

Last week the Salvation Army – which runs Samoa’s sole drug and alcohol rehabilitation service – told this newspaper that there is a growing methamphetamine (meth) addiction problem in Samoa. Sailivao Aukusitino Senio, a Team Leader for Addiction Services at Salvation Army, said that he has seen an increase in meth-related cases and believes that something should be done about it.

Obviously, the red flags are already out there, and a humanitarian organisation like the Salvation Army has seen the signs and consequently made a call for action from the relevant authorities.

With the Legislative Assembly recently passing the Government’s SAT$1.08 billion Budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, surely the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries can identify funding in the Government’s new money plan to channel to the S.R.O.S. to enable it to fund the full renovation of the old MedCen hospital facility to house its new division. Besides becoming a one-stop shop for tests for human pathogens or animal pathogens, testing for drugs and narcotics also enables Samoa to be one step ahead, in its efforts to address the increasing use and sale of hard drugs.