Paula DAVID

Kerema Provincial Hospital in Gulf Province is facing critical state with most of its medical services shut down since COVID-19 landed in the country. Most of the services closed since the pandemic, and doctors and all the cardiac health workers at the Kerema Provincial Hospital who are on Gulf PHA pay-roll are currently working at the Port Moresby General Hospital. According to Gulf Provincial Deputy Director Public Health Mr Ben Bal, since the appointment of the new Acting CEO for the Kerema Provincial Hospital in the Gulf Province, the situation at the Hospital has worsened and services dropping dropped significantly. “No changes have been made and the situation has gone from bad to worse. The wards are currently closed, the laboratory services are closed, the X-Ray services are closed, and doctor’s consultation services are also closed, as well as the In-patient services," said Mr. Bal. He said, this is because the hospital does not have any “Health Plan” and a “Board Committee” and a few of the workers in the province go to work whenever they want to. The Kerema Provincial Referral Hospital has lost its stage from being in that level to a day-like-clinic now. The situation and issues faced at the hospital is very critical and no one is doing anything about it. “There is no control and command in place at the Kerema Provincial Hospital, said Bal.” In-patient treatment at the Kerema Provincial Hospital are all sent into the city to seek proper medical attention at the Port Moresby General Hospital. Mr Bal said, everyday they have ambulances running to Port Moresby due to no in-patient services because all the wards are closed and they are no longer admitting patients. “Those that need admissions are kept at the out-patient ward for a day or two and taken to Port Moresby, said Bal.” Mr Bal added that, the Gulf PHA is aware of the current issue but is not doing anything to address this issue. He said the hospital is totally run-down and has dropped in its standards from being a “Level 5 Hospital” to more of a “Day-Clinic” now. Meanwhile, patients seeking medical treatment only receive basic medical treatment at the out-patient ward and are sent home. Mr Bal said, this is because the hospital faces a lot of basic medical drug shortages all the time and there’s not enough workers to tend to all patients at once. “Most of them are sent home without proper medical consultation and treatment which is very unethical, said Mr Bal.”  

"Friends of POMGEN” (FOPG) is a registered charitable entity, ratified by the Board of POMGEN to support the Port Moresby General Hospital’s mission to become a self-sustainable model for public health facilities in PNG. According to the FOPG’s Operations Coordinator Grace Roland, the recent appeal that was sent out is a call out from one of the social worker that worked in the pediatric ward to FOPG to help assist with the appeal on the FOPG’s Facebook page to get the support from individuals, communities and business houses, basically to help the children. “The assistance needed is basically to help children from newborns to 13 year olds who need basic things that parents are financially unable at the moment to provide for their children", says Roland. ” Some of the items listed below are what these children need for those who are interested to donate. All donations can be delivered at the POMGEN children’s pediatric ward or FOPG’s office near SUSU’s area. • Diapers • Water Bottles • Fruits • Infant Milk (S26) • New Clothes (new and used) • Bath & Laundry Soap • Washing Detergent • Toilet papers   She added that, sometimes the staff, nurses or doctors go out of their personal ways to make ends-meet by providing at least something for this patients. “We are doing what we can to help despite whatever circumstances we go through, says Roland. ” In cases where POMGEN really needs support from FOPG in such cases like this or others like the “Children’s Cancer Ward” refurbishment, FOPG basically extends another hand of support for the hospital to do their job.

The NCD Schools Rugby League competition for Round 4 last Weekend have been suspended indefinitely. According to NCD Schools Rugby League Association President Arnold Gende, this is due to non-school affiliation by a good number of schools and also player registrations. He added that, they have informed respective school teachers/coaches and team Managers to submit the four documents required to the Association for players to be able to take part but this has not happened yet. This has caused the President to suspend the competition for an indefinite period of time. “All schools taking part in the competition must provide four documentations to the Association heads in order for their schools to continue to take part, says Gende.” The four required documents includes the school affiliation, two is the player registration of K30.00 attached with the term 1 report, three is the players profile (“My Sideline”) and forth is the player’s summary for each division. Mr Gende says, they will continue its competitions only when the first six schools send in their documentations. “Gende says, 27 schools have partly affiliated but have not met the full requirements. Player registrations which includes parents’ consent, medical report and K30 registration receipts that should be attached with the registration form and “My Sideline” report.” Meanwhile, the competition has seen a rise in the female teams taking part. Gende says, so far the competition has been good since round 1 of the completion with an influx of students especially girls joining the competition. He is calling on the school sports teachers/coaches and team managers to continue to assist these students as it is one way of disciplining them through this platform. He further emphasized on the school Term1 report as it is really important. “This is really important because we want to ensure that every student taking part in the NCD schools rugby league competition must also perform highly in their academic studies. If not, they will be cut out until they improve academically.” Mr Gende also thanked all the parents for assisting their kids by taking them for their games, especially the girls who are participating now which is really encouraging to see females taking part in a male dominant sport.

Condom awareness programs in PNG continue to remain a public health concern. Majority of the country’s population live below the poverty line with low literacy levels. Lack of knowledge of condom use and availability is worrisome especially for the sexually active population. Three districts in Central have already begun distribution of condoms for the 2022 National General Elections. According to Central HIV/AIDS Provincial Coordinator Mr Gairo Kapana, out of the 5 districts in the province, Rigo, Abau and Kairuku districts have already received their boxes of condoms to be distributed at the polling areas. “A total of 15 boxes of condoms (10 boxes of Male condoms and 5 boxes of Female condoms) were given to be distributed accordingly by all district coordinators to the 5 districts in the province. Each district will receive 2 male boxes of condoms and 1 female box of condom each, says Mr Kapana.” Since the month of January, Central province has seen 133 new cases of HIV/AIDS from their 24 sites in the 5 districts in the province. “He says, awareness is on-going and messages are given to the people but it’s always up to them to take it or live it.” He is also urging his people to be very careful during this peak period as they are expecting to see an increase in the number of cases.

Florence Matagede from Salamaua in the Huon Gulf District of Morobe and husband Christopher Napoleon from Alotau are in desperate need for financial assistance to go towards their 5 year old daughter’s medical appeal. According to Florence, Joana currently has a swollen lump from what used to be a blood clot that formed above her right eye. “When Joana was born, the village mid-wife who helped deliver Joana accidently dropped her which caused the swelling on her right eye that stayed with her after birth until now, says Florence.” They were advised by doctors from Angau Hospital in Lae to wait until Joana turns 7 or 8 years old before they could clean out the blood clot but due to her eye getting swollen each day, they are seeking any form of assistance now to quickly help out their child. Florence is currently in Port Moresby while Joana is in Alotau with her father waiting for financial assistance to seek medical attention. According to Florence, she came to Port Moresby last month to seek financial assistance from the general public to go back and help her daughter out, but she is also facing financial problems to make her way back to her family to help little Joana out. With her the swelling getting bigger each day, her mother is appealing to the general public to help assist in any way to seek medical attention as soon as possible. She added that, they have not opened any medical appeal account yet, but those who wish to donate can call her up on 71970986 for more information.

The 20 female students from the PNG University of Technology (PNGUOT) who were caught in a recent raid attack by thefts have been moved to a safer location. According to PNGUOT Vice Chancellor Dr Ora Renagi, the incident happened last Thursday night at the Rainforest Guest House. Dr Renagi said, the 20 female students were accommodated by the institute to stay there because the Institute’s female dormitories were full. “We provided accommodation for the 20 female students at the Rain Forest Guest House because all the female dorms were full. The guest house is near the school staff houses and we also provided full-on security service for the girls," Dr Renagi said. He said, the thieves stormed through the doors and stole mobile phones and laptops belonging to the female students. “One female student sustained a head injury after she refused to hand over her phone and computer to the thieves. She was sent to the hospital to get treated for the injury and is recovering back at school,” Mr Renagi advised. The police were alerted and attended to the incident after the alarm was raised. VC Dr Renagi said, they are yet to receive a report from the University security. Meanwhile, the girls presented a petition last Friday that was received by the VC to address the relocation of accommodation and also a list of items stolen. Dr Renagi stated that they have already relocated two girls each to vacant staff houses along with two security guards posted at each house.

With the proposed infrastructure plans to NDOH to address some of the issues faced at the Western Highlands Provincial health centres and clinics, the provincial CEO says they are waiting on funds to come in before they commence ground works. Western Highlands PHA CEO Ms Jane Holden says they have sent a K10million proposal to NDOH and are still waiting for a response from them to open up new operating theatres for Mt Hagen General Hospital. Meanwhile, since the start of nominations last week Thursday the 19th of May 2022, there were no major accidents or violence related incidents reported at the health centres or clinics. Ms Holden said, there were only minor incidents but nothing serious. She also stated that they have received a few covid cases but have recovered and since the month of January, they have only recorded 1 Covid related death, which brings the tally up to 16 deaths in total for the province now.

Saturday the 21st of May 2022 saw the first ever World Cultural Diversity Day been celebrated at the Moresby Arts Theatre. National Cultural Commission (NCC) Marketing Manager Mr David Taim said, since the acceptance in 2001 through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNSECO), NCC hosted the country’s first ever World Cultural Diversity Day under the theme: “Celebrating the World’s Cultural Diversity in Unity”. He said, "given the fact that PNG is so culturally diverse, we want to use this day as a platform to promote peace through culture, art through creative business industry, entrepreneurship and eliminate poverty.” On Saturday, they saw performances from a total of six cultural groups and one global contemporary music group from Weimog Rock- Jazz & Blues. Mr Taim said, through NCC they see this day as a very important day for PNG given our cultural diversity. “This is the first and we intend to promote and make this event bigger and better by next year by including all their stakeholders and the global community leaving in Port Moresby to come and celebrate our differences as one," said Mr Taim. Furthermore, Mr Taim said, this will become an annual event for NCC in the years to come to promote cultural diversity in Port Moresby and across to the other provinces as well.

The UPNG Student Representative Council held its projects fundraising dinner on Friday night at the Dynasty Seafood Restaurant for its 6 major projects to be carried out later this year. UPNG SRC President Melvin Tinol said, for this year they have embarked on 6 projects. In honour of the Late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare a monument will be constructed within the campus, along with the 5 other projects as follows: • Research Incentive program • UPNG Journal Publication • Generator for the Medical faculty • Female Dorm Sanitary Bins & • Reserve Water Tanks Tinol acknowledged the sponsors for their support toward the University SRC’s incentives toward their 6 projects and hopes to see the UPNG Administration coming on board to help assist with the projects. UPNG Vice Chancellor Pro. Frank Griffin also acknowledged everyone for participating in the projects fundraiser, especially the public, family and friends for supporting the student’s incentives toward their projects. The Vice Chancellor said since 2016 the SRC was inactive and was re-established last year. He added that, “they (the SRC) did not have a full team but in the space of 2months, the SRC was able to come up with this idea of fundraising to help fund their projects”. “They have gone out of their way to put together this event in a space of two months. I commend the leadership and the energy put in to get the right sponsorship and support to make it happen and so hats off to each and every one of you for being the drive for what has happened now,” Tinol said. Pro. Griffin has reassured the members of the SRC that his administration stands ready to partner with the students to accomplish their objectives no matter what. "The University of Papua New Guinea does not receive any form of funding when it comes to goods and services." "Funding received from the government goes into paying for salaries." According to Pro. Griffin, when budget is handed down there are 2 components, one is the Recurring Budget and the other is the PIP’s. Though they receive little funding, the university makes sure that buildings within the campus are looked after. He further stated that, much of the resources they receive for their goods and services come from the fees they collect from the students at the beginning of the year. “We have to prioritize in how we structure our expenditure plan to last the full 12 months of the academic year because majority of the resources that we receive for our goods and services comes from the student fees that we collect at the beginning of every semester," said Pro. Griffin.

Through their continued support over the years, Digicel PNG has yet again announced a three-year platinum sponsorship for the PNG Orchids and the PNG Kumuls respectively. Digicel Senior Vice President Lorna McPherson said they are proud to announce a sponsorship worth a little over K7million in the next 3 years as part of their Platinum sponsorship. Digicel PNG has been a proud sponsor for rugby league in PNG for over two decades and they continue to invest in the development of PNG’s local talent and the community nationally and now internationally as well. Ms McPherson said, “our commitment to PNG’s national sport is our commitment to you the people of PNG. The 3-year platinum sponsorship will be for both our national rugby teams the PNG Kumuls and flag bearers and the PNG Orchids.” As part of their platinum sponsorship, Digicel PNG announced that both the PNG Kumuls and Orchids will receive K1million each for this year along with K1.1million in 2023 and K1.2million in 2024. Ms McPherson said all players and officials of both national teams will be provided with over a hundred and fifty thousand kina worth of phones and WIFI devices and DATA services as part of the sponsorship. With their continued sponsorship over the years through promoting development and growth through grassroots rugby league competitions, kicking off with the Digicel Cup, PNG SP Hunters and now both the National Orchids & Kumuls teams. Ms McPherson said it is important for them to continue advancing into the development of the country through the sport of rugby league. She also added that both national teams have improved drastically over the years. “The PNG Kumuls is now ranked 5th in the world and the PNG Orchids is ranked 4th in the world which is a massive improvement for our teams,” Ms McPherson said. Meanwhile PNG Orchids Chairlady Okara Yogi thanked Ms McPherson for the timely effort and management for coming on board to help support both teams to get to the World Cup. “We will work in partnership and get our teams to go the World Cup and bring back the Cup to PNG,” Yogi said. PNGRFL Chairman Mr Sandis Tsaka expressed his gratitude towards Digicel PNG for making this milestone decision to make a significant investment for the code. “Digicel as we all know are not new to the game, they have invested in the sport over the last 20 years significantly across our 6 years of the game. From the grassroots to the national competitions and to the national representative team the Hunters, and now they’ve come on board to support both national teams for the World Cup and for this we are forever grateful to them,” Mr Tsaka said.

People in Western Highlands Province are being reluctant in getting the Covid-19 vaccine despite the set-up of new 7 testing sites in the province. Western Highlands Provincial PHA CEO Ms Jane Holden said people remain hesitant to get tested or vaccinated along with the booster because of the reduction in the number of reported cases. She said they are doing the best they can to educate the people on the importance of getting vaccinated before another Covid-19 variant hits the country. “We need to keep telling people the truth that without the vaccine, we run the risk of falling victim to another Covid-19 variant that could be more sinister than what we got at the moment with omicron," Ms Holden said. Currently, they have only fully vaccinated 7 and a half thousand people which is less than 3% of the population. Ms Holden said, since January, they have recorded a total of 822 cases of Covid-19 alone and 15 deaths. She added that, at the moment, they are only seeing 1-5 positive cases a week. Ms Holden said "Numbers will continue to strike because people are not coming forward for testing even when they are showing Covid like symptoms.” Other than that, like other hospitals in the province facing infrastructure problems, Western Highlands Province is also preparing plans to seek funding support to address some of the issues faced at their health center and clinics. Ms Holden said they are looking at opening more operating theaters for Mt Hagen General Hospital and are also looking at turning Tambul Krotna and Chinsley into district hospitals. “Plans for these projects have been completed and submitted and waiting for request for budget to start ground work," she said. Meanwhile, without good supply of medical drugs and other vital aid supplies to stock-up in preparation for the National Elections, the provincial health authority have gone through a meeting on how to manage their supplies during that period. Ms Holden says, in order to support the strategies they came up with, the orders of medical supplies need to be provided upon request. Failure to do so would mean there will surely be a problem for them especially during the NGE period. She says, there’s a possibility of an increase in the number of violence related cases that will be reported at the health center, but they are hoping that people will have a safe and fair free-violence election. Ms Holden further stated that, with more focus on COVID-19 now, Measles and Rubella cases have emerged in the province. Although, Western Highlands has completed 43% of the target population for the first dose of Measles, it has currently dropped back to 29% for the 2nd dose which is higher than the national average and shows evidence of a possible measles & rubella outbreak in the province. The PHA CEO said, "Starting next Wednesday, we are looking at a strategy to target Measles and Rubella vaccines to try and get those numbers back up to avoid an outbreak in the province.”

Although Gordons Clinic here in the Nation’s Capital did not carry out any programs in-line with the World Immunization Week that falls on the 24th-30 April, health staff made sure that their normal immunization programs at the clinic continued. According to Gordons Clinic Officer in Charge for Family Planning Sr Eda Ratu, their normal routine immunization, runs from Monday to Friday according to the review dates. “We get about 100-150 mothers a week who bring in their babies to be vaccinated, which is really good because they are aware of the diseases caused by unvaccinated babies, that’s why, it is a must that all babies must complete their immunization,” she said. Apart from their normal immunization and awareness carried out at the clinic, they also talk about family planning and why it is important for a mother to know how to plan their families, so that she is able to bring in her baby at the right time to be vaccinated.  She said, “all mothers or parents must plan their families so that they will have a good number of children which they plan for.” “Especially here in PNG, it’s a common case where mothers have too many children and are not able to bring in their babies for immunization just because they are too tired and they don’t complete their routine immunization.” Sr Ratu stressed on the importance of awareness on family planning and routine immunization. She said hospitals, clinics, health centers and Aid Posts must ensure on making awareness on these because these two always come hand-in-hand. Meanwhile, the Clinic has seen a lot of parents who have brought in their children aged 5 years and below because of the flu virus. Sr Ratu said, it’s an everyday case for them at the center to treat and advise mothers on the best steps to take to care for their children. Currently, the clinical staff are encouraging parents to ensure that babies less than 1 year must be kept warm at all times and to stay away from dust. “For babies 3 months and above who are experiencing flu like symptoms, they can be steamed with herbs and given Panadol to treat fever symptoms. Children 1-5 years and below must be taken care of properly to avoid contracting serious diseases/sicknesses,” said Sr Ratu. She further stated that, if parents take care of their babies properly at an early age by doing home remedies and taking them for their routine immunization, this will help reduce diseases that are commonly caused by not getting those immunizations. Sr Ratu is urging parents to bring in their babies quickly to the clinics if they come across any signs of their babies having very high fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea or not breast-feeding well.