By JOHN ANDREWS

Niue Premier Young Vivian hopes his cyclone-ravaged island will have a new hospital open by Christmas.

Since Cyclone Heta destroyed the isolated island's only hospital in January, up to five patients a week have had to be flown to New Zealand for treatment.

Temporary medical facilities set up in Niue's youth centre have been described as inadequate and awful.

With financial help from donor countries such as New Zealand and Australia, Vivian believes a $3.5 million, 12-bed hospital can be completed by the end of the year.

The European Union has pledged $1.2 million for the project.

Niue's post-cyclone recovery plan will be presented to representatives of potential donors in Wellington on April 28 and a new hospital is one of the priorities.

Hima Takelesi, Niue's High Commissioner to New Zealand, said a hospital could be open as early as November if the funding surfaced.

Niue had been given a portable x-ray machine but although medical staff had hoped to start using it, no appropriate building was available.

"In the cyclone aftermath, the youth centre was intended only as a temporary solution," said Takelesi.

"We did not expect so many people would be admitted."

At last week's special Pacific Islands Forum retreat in Auckland, Vivian raised with Samoa's Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, the possibility of sending Niue patients to Apia for initial assessment rather than more expensive and longer stays in New Zealand.

The Samoan leader asked his Niuean counterpart to send his Minister of Health, Fisa Pihigia, to Apia to discuss the proposal.

Meanwhile, Vivian has accepted Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis' offer to send three council officers - a civil engineer, town planner and landscape architect - to Niue for a week.

The trio will investigate and recommend ways that Niue can redevelop Government departments, reticulation, and areas such as the storm-battered Alofi South waterfront.