"We often treat pregnant women who are very, very worried and who need to have an ultrasound scan of their growing baby", explains Patricia Pedre, deputy director of the provincial health and social services department. Faced with a partly crippled health system, the health centre in the southern province of New Caledonia's capital has been converted into a maternal and child protection unit (PMI) and centre for primary care for pregnant women, new-born babies and the slightly injured. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES