In recent years, our team have been doing everything we can to help ni-Vanuatu access life-saving medical treatment overseas—especially for cancer and other complex illnesses. We help families navigate referrals, raise funds, and, in many cases, send patients all the way to India because that is where affordable specialist treatment is available.

This work is not easy. It is emotionally draining, financially exhausting, and often urgent. We see families selling land, communities fundraising late into the night, and patients travelling thousands of kilometres while seriously ill. We do this because we have no choice—the treatment they need is not available in Vanuatu.

And that leads to the uncomfortable but necessary question:

Why is Vanuatu still unable to provide cancer and advanced specialist treatment locally?

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A painful reality for patients and families

No one chooses to leave their country for medical treatment unless they must. Yet more and more ni-Vanuatu are forced to look overseas—not just to nearby countries like Australia or New Zealand, but to India, halfway across the world.

This tells us something important:

• The cost of care in Australia and New Zealand is often far beyond what ordinary families can afford.
• Access is limited by visas, waiting lists, and referral barriers.
• Local facilities in Vanuatu cannot yet diagnose or treat many cancers and chronic diseases.

India becomes the option not because it is close, but because it is accessible and affordable.

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Why can’t this care be built in Vanuatu?

This is not a criticism of Vanuatu’s doctors or nurses. Our health workers are committed, skilled, and often working under extreme pressure. The problem is systemic, not personal.

Advanced treatment requires:

• Specialist doctors (oncologists, radiologists, surgeons)
• Diagnostic equipment (CT, MRI, pathology labs)
• Reliable supply chains for medicines
• Long-term treatment systems, not short-term projects

These are not things that appear overnight. They require long-term investment, planning, and retention of specialists.

So why hasn’t this happened yet?

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Where are our closest partners?

Australia and New Zealand are Vanuatu’s closest neighbours and long-standing development partners. They contribute significant funding to health programs across the Pacific, and that support is acknowledged.

But from the perspective of patients and families on the ground, there is a growing frustration:

If we can fund overseas referrals year after year, why can’t we build specialist capacity closer to home?

Many people see a system where:

• Pacific patients continue to travel overseas for treatment
• Pacific hospitals host visiting trainees and short-term missions
• Yet local specialist services never fully take root

This creates a perception—fair or not—that the Pacific remains dependent rather than empowered.

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What our experience tells us

From our work on the ground, one thing is clear:
The current model is not working for ordinary people.

Fundraising to send patients overseas should not be the long-term solution. It is a stopgap measure—one driven by compassion, not by good system design.

When communities have to rely on Facebook fundraisers and emergency appeals to save lives, something deeper is broken.

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This is not about blame — it’s about priorities

This is not an attack on any country, donor, or institution. It is a call for honesty.

Small island states like Vanuatu cannot build every specialist service alone—but we also cannot continue exporting our sick people overseas indefinitely.

What is needed now is:

• Serious discussion about regional specialist centres in the Pacific
• Long-term specialist training and retention programs
• Investment that builds systems, not just buildings
• A shift from emergency referrals to local and regional capacity

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Why we will keep doing what we do — but also keep asking questions

My team and I will continue helping people get treatment in India. We will continue fundraising for those without means. We do this because lives are at stake.

But we will also keep asking the hard questions:

• Why is cancer care still out of reach locally?
• Why do families have to travel halfway around the world to survive?
• When will capacity-building become more than a promise?

These questions are not political. They are human.

And until the answers change, the need for overseas treatment—and community fundraising—will remain a painful reality for too many ni-Vanuatu families.

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This article discusses healthcare access issues based on publicly observed trends. It does not claim insider knowledge, official data, or intent by any government or partner. Any references to countries or systems are contextual and intended to support policy discussion.