There’s no doubt Tonga has suffered more than its share of catastrophes in recent times. For Tongovua Fifita, owner and chief dental officer of JeLDSa Dental Clinics, the first catastrophe was the tsunami in December 2021. Located close to the shore, the tsunami wiped out the clinic building and much of the dental equipment, including the main specialist dental chair.
After a week of clean up, the clinic reopened with one chair still in working order, and a week after that Covid-19 arrived in Tonga.
The damage the tsunami brought was bearable, but when Covid arrived, it was – and still is – a different story. It has imposed financial, mental and socio-economic impacts in personal and work lives and in our country,” says Tongovua.
She describes the impact on her clinic.
My clinic has suffered tremendously, not only financially but also the impact psychosocially was intense. Because of the nature of our work and how we could easily get the virus, most of the employees refused to come to work.”
She finds it too painful to put into words all the challenges she faced during this extremely difficult period.
Hearing a close friend share her BLP Adaptation Grant story, Tongovua thought, “why not?” Her financial limitations were a strong motivator, and she set about the application process.
There was a lot of information required, but it was still manageable.”
The grant was used to purchase a new computer set for the clinic, necessary for data entry and keeping client records and patient management.
JeLDSa Dental Clinic was transiting from a time-consuming manual system involving paper records which are often difficult to locate and which are vulnerable to theft and disaster. The ability to access records easily has improved efficiency and productivity and provides better security for patient records and peace of mind for Tongovua.
It has been a great honour and a great opportunity to receive this Grant from BLP. It has helped JeLDSa with managing patient data and has improved patient management. Patient waiting time has been reduced, and they are more satisfied because of this.”
ENDS
The Finance Facility enables access to capital for stabilisation, recovery and growth of viable but financially distressed businesses in the Pacific Islands due to the impact of COVID-19 on the regional economy.
The Facility opened applications to Business Adaptation Grants across eight Pacific Island countries in January and June 2021. Adaptation Grants have benefitted over 200 businesses to date, and Business Link Pacific is currently processing a similar number of grants to be disbursed before the end of the year.
To further support recovery and growth, Business Link Pacific is negotiating key partnerships with Financial Institutions to offer concessionary lending to small businesses in the region and will soon make information available on accessing those products. The Finance Facility also offers curated information about financial products for businesses on its free online tool, the Finance Finder; visit today to find out what is available to your business right now.