6 Aug 2012

Vanuatu baby named for French hospital mission

10:25 am on 6 August 2012

A baby from the Catholic mission of Melsisi on Pentecost island in Vanuatu has been named in honour of the French military's recent Castor Operation in the area.

It is in acknowledgement of the work the soldiers did renovating what had been a health centre but the Vanautu government has now upgraded to a hospital.

A midwife at Melsisi hospital, Edwidge Tabi, says the local chiefs and people promised the French soldiers when they left last week that the first babies born after they'd gone would be called Castor and Castorine.

The first male baby was born the day after the army had gone and has been named Castor Bulekone.

A doctor is to be appointed shortly to the new hospital while equipment, such as X-ray machinery, is to be installed.