Paula DAVID

SP PNG Hunters are set for this weekends blockbuster round 5 clash as the homeboys match an in-form 6th placed Northern Pride team in the QRL Hostplus Cup challenge on Saturday at Barlow Park, Cairns. They come out of a two-week break, after a bye in Round 4 and the Easter long weekend, and are ready to make some noise promising their faithful fans in 2023 that there is plenty to be excited about, with a win, a draw and one loss to their scorecard since the start of the season. Despite not all results going their way, there are genuine signs of improvement in this squad under new Head Coach Stanley Tepend, and the Hunters have a great opportunity to maintain their position inside the Top Eight when they take on the Northern Pride on Saturday. While rookie fullback Morea Morea featured heavily across the opening three games, it is the work of the teammates around him that is allowing Morea to shine in attack. The Hunters forward pack led by Ila Alu and Junior Rop has been strong to start the season, consistently winning the yardage battle and generating momentum for the spine to play on the back of. Hooker Wesser Tenza and halves Jamie Mavoko and Sakias Komati have combined effectively to begin the year. Tenza is directing traffic from dummy-half and getting the Hunters into certain areas of the field in good-ball. From there, Mavoko, Komati and Morea are linking smoothly in the backline to shift the ball to spaces on the edge. The Hunters are playing a fast, aggressive style of football this season and they will look to continue that form in Round 5. Head Coach Stanely Tepend paid tribute to his forward pack this week after a strong start to the season. “They (Alu, Rop & Kapinias) play an important role for us in the middle,” said Tepend. “The middle of the field is where games are won or lost and we’ve been going well thanks to the work of those three in around the ruck. Wesser (Tenza) is also a part of this.” Tepend said the growing experience of his forwards is helping the Hunters compete against more fancied opposition. “Each year these guys get a bit more experience. It can be a heavy toll on the body playing in the middle and as they play more games, they get a bit wiser and more confident. We’re getting the benefits of their experience over the last few years.” Looking ahead to Round 5, Tepend says defence has been a focus for his team as they prepare to face the Northern Pride. “The good thing is we know we can score points. Every time we get into good-ball we have looked threatening, but now it’s more about stopping the opposition from scoring,” said Tepend. “We’ve focussed a lot on our defence over the last two weeks. We’ve worked on fixing some things as individuals – mainly our discipline - which I think will help us perform better as a team.” “It’s been good to use the last two weeks to improve in those areas.” Team List 1. Morea Morea 2. Brandon Nima 3. Junior Igila 4. Rodrick Tai 5. Solo Wane 6. Sakias Komati 7. Jamie Mavoko 8. Junior Rop 9. Wesser Tenza 10. Epel Kapinias 11. Sherwin Tanabi 12. Benji Kot 13. Ila Alu (captain) 14. Trevor Solu 15. Tom Moide 16. Koso Bandi 17. Henry Noki 18. Joshua Mire 19. Siki Konden

Unlike people living within NCD, patients in the Central Province, East New Britain, and Morobe wait twice as long for an ambulance. St John Ambulance, the emergency ambulance service in Papua New Guinea, has an urgent need for more staff at ambulance stations in these provinces. According to the latest statistics, patients in Central Province, East New Britain, and Morobe are waiting twice as long for an ambulance compared to those in NCD. The lack of adequate ambulance stations and trained personnel in these regions is a major concern, especially during emergencies. The longer response times mean that patients are more likely to suffer complications or even lose their lives. It is crucial that this issue is addressed and people in every part of the country have access to timely and efficient emergency medical services. St John Ambulance is committed to providing quality emergency ambulance services across PNG for the Government. However, it needs support from the provincial government and other stakeholders to staff more ambulance stations in Central, Morobe, and East New Britain Province. By funding additional ambulance stations and recruiting more trained personnel, St John can significantly reduce response times and save more lives. The government and other stakeholders are urged to join hands with St John in this mission. St John’s Momase regional commander Anderson Poumb said; “We have seen an increase in people calling for emergency help from the ambulance service, but it takes longer to respond because we need more St John People to operate our ambulances in Lae”. “We have three ambulances in Lae, but funding from the Morobe Provincial Government only allows us to staff one of these ambulances.” “Current funding from Lae City Authority helps us employ eight full-time professional ambulance staff, including a senior registered nurse. But this is only for Lae City.” “We get calls every day for areas outside Lae City. We only have one ambulance. At any one time, we have three people, often critical, waiting hours for the ambulance to help them.” “For example, when an ambulance crew is attending to a case at 12-Mile, they have to take that patient to the hospital. When other calls come through, we must finish with that first patient and respond to the next. It could mean patients are waiting hours before much needed help gets to them.” Mr Poumb pointed out that more and more people outside of Lae City are hearing of the great work the ambulance service is doing and therefore calling 111 for the ambulance service. Poumb added, “What we need is support for ten more ambulance officers and an agreement with the Morobe Provincial Government so we can operate more ambulances for Morobe province.” “The people of Morobe province who live outside of Lae City deserve to have access to this great ambulance system.” St John is operating in Lae based on a memorandum of agreement with the Lae City Authority and Morobe Provincial Health Authority. The MOA doesn’t cover responses outside of Lae City, although St John does its best to provide care to critical emergencies outside Lae City.

Broadcasting rights for the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands will focus on member countries rather than an individual company. Pacific Games Council Chief Executive Officer Andrew Minogue told RNZ Pacific the Pacific Games Organising Committee would produce the programmes and have the selected broadcasters share that in their respective countries. "We have basically settled on a model that is like the traditional model that we've employed in previous Games where the Organising Committee will sort of put it all together in-house and then contract with different regional broadcasters, for example, Fiji TV in Fiji or France Television for the French territories," Minogue revealed. "So, what will happen is they will all pull their resources, bring them all together and then create post broadcast. "They're not going to outsource it to another company, they're going to do it themselves with the expertise they've gotten. They've got some very good people internally who have done this sort of work before. "But they'll lean very heavily, like all other previous Games have done, on contributions from regional broadcasters, from the TV and radio stations from participating countries who can bring some personnel, some equipment down to help put it all together." Ownership Meanwhile, Minogue clarified that the decision on the broadcasting right is for the Council to make. They work with the organising committees who put together a broadcast plan and organise the tender process. "The broadcast right is ultimately owned by the Pacific Games Council. Just like we own the Games, we own the rights to the broadcasts as well," he said. "The Organising Committee puts together a host broadcast plan in terms of how they would like to deliver the host broadcast services and they would do that effectively with our blessings. They will issue the contracts to the host broadcast organisation, to the other regional broadcasters that might contribute to the production. "But that has to be approved by the Pacific Games Council. That's the process that we've gone through with Solomon Islands. There's been the tender process, the evaluation of tender because there have been different bidders." [caption id="attachment_38709" align="alignnone" width="788"] The final of the men's 100m at the 2019 Pacific Games Photo: Roland Setu/Games News Service[/caption] Minogue said Solomon Islands Broadcasting will also have a role in the Games. "There will be a role for them. There's certainly been a big part of the discussions that we've had with the Organising Committee. And no agreements have been signed yet but our expectation is that SIBC will have the domestic rights in Solomon Islands to broadcast the games internally. "But they're not the organisation that will be the host broadcaster of the entire Games. We always try and keep that separate from a local broadcaster," Minogue added. The Council hopes that the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Channel will assist in boosting the reach worldwide, through their online platform. Source: RNZ 

Warriors five-eighth Te Maire Martin is set to miss the next eight weeks of the season after scans confirmed he fractured his left fibula in the Round 6 loss to the Knights.  The club confirmed Martin's diagnosis on Tuesday, after he was forced from the field in the 46th minute after suffering the injury while attempting to score a try. Warriors hooker Wayde Egan will miss the side's clash against the Cowboys under concussion protocols. Meanwhile, the Knights and Wests Tigers have confirmed star players Jayden Brailey and Adam Doueihi will miss the remainder of the 2023 season respectively after suffering ACL injuries in Round 6. Source: NRL.Com

Newcastle have fended off a second consecutive Warriors comeback to run in an impressive 34-24 victory at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday night. The Knights had a 22-6 lead after running in four first half tries but like last week in their win over Cronulla, the Warriors showed fight to deliver a scare for the Novocastrians after the break. The visitors got to within four points after tries to Adam Pompey and Edward Kosi reduced the deficit in the second half but a cheeky try to Kurt Mann from close range and double to powerhouse winger Greg Marzhew got the Knights home. Marzhew and Dominic Young helped the Knights start fast with charge over tries on either edge setting up a 10-0 lead. The Warriors hit back through Pompey in the 22nd minute and looked to have had a second via Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad through a similiar play but the NRL Bunker ruled Jackson Hastings was impacted in the lead-up to the try. Newcastle struck twice more within eight minutes through kicks not collected cleanly by the visitors for a handy 16-point lead with the breeze behind them in the second half. The Warriors needed to be first to score after the break and could reduce the deficit on the right edge with Pompey putting on some fancy footwork to step around Bradman Best for the side's second. Nicoll-Klokstad's ability to set up tries for Edward Kosi and Jackson Ford late kept the Warriors in the game momentarily but time this week was against them with the Knights doing enough to hold on. Source: NRL.Com

Responding swiftly to genuine emergencies is what the officers at Saint John Ambulance (SJA) do best. As busy as the Eater period can get, the nights can be a handful with callers calling in to seek for ambulance transportation to the hospitals. Ambulance officers attended to cases all over the city all of last night to dawn, including four cases with one patient experiencing Shortness of Breath (SOB) case, a trauma case, a severe sour throat case and a Respiratory Viral Infections (RVI) case that can be associated with a wide range of clinical manifestations. Despite with only six ambulances on the road and two officers per ambulance, the team responded promptly to the first SOB case which was a female in her 40’s. The team immediately put her on oxygen and rushed to the Gerehu General Hospital (GGH). The team was than dispatched to 9 Mile Bush Wara area to attend to their second emergency call, a trauma case. A male aged between his 30’s-40 was assisted immediately by the officers and transported to the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH). The male patient lost a lot of blood due to a drunk assault. He was stabbed by his wife after acting all rowdy, which caused her to act out of rage and stabbed him with a knife on his leg. But being under the influence of alcohol, the SJA officers advised the care takers that he won’t be attended too and treated immediately due to having alcohol in his system. A patient who is under the influence of alcohol waits for at least 3 to 4 hours before the nurses or doctors can attend to him or her. Going beyond the city limits to provide substantial medical services, the team dashed off to Goldie Barracks around 1am to attend to their 3rd case. The patient suffered from a sore throat and was rushed to GGH. The officers mentioned that this could be a possible mouth cancer case if not treated early. Ending off the night was a painful site of the RVI case. The patient who is in her 20’s expressed agony as she was rushed to the PMGH. The patient who is on ART treatment for HIV/AIDS said that she did not have any medications due to it been finished. She expressed pain throughout her whole body and shortness of breath as well. The patient had NIL care takers due to her family not wanting to hop on the ambulance with the team to take her to the hospital. Even so, the officers safely rushed her to PMGH and was left at the Emergency department.

The Warangoi Rural Hospital in the East New Britain (ENB) province has reported a quiet Easter weekend so far with no major cases being reported at the hospital. The Sister-in-Charge, Rosemary Sylvester, said the hospital was very quiet and they only got one admission at their labor ward. The lady gave birth to a healthy baby girl that weighed 3.6kg. “Apart from our Good Friday baby girl that was delivered, no reports of any incidents or major incidents that were reported since yesterday. It was basically quiet in the hospital.” Sister Sylvester said, they only received one new admission who is currently in the Out-Patient being treated for diarrhea and abdominal pain. Meanwhile, the sister was also happy to report that the rural hospital has enough supply of medical drugs at this time. She added that, their routine immunization outreach programs has been going well and mothers are taking in their babies to get immunized. “We have a good coverage for our immunization programs and as well the COVID-19 vaccines that are available for the people.” “We started rolling out the COVID-19 vaccines in the month of November last year and seen a good number of people coming forward to get vaccinated, but we could do better with the numbers if there is more awareness carried out so people know the importance of the vaccine.” Sister Rosemary also appealed to the general public to take care of themselves during this long Easter period.

While many throughout the nation take this time to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this long Easter weekend, Saint John Ambulance (SJA) will be at service throughout the Easter period to provide emergency services for those in need. SJA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Matt Cannon said his team will be on the road twenty-four-seven to provide emergency services to those in need. He is also appealing to the general public to keep safe and healthy at this time, especially during this time of heavy rains experienced in parts of the country. "Recent rains have brought with them many hazards from floods to the potential of water borne diseases." His is also encouraging people especially children to never play in flood waters as it can have dangerous objects that can hurt them. [audio mp3="https://pnghausbung.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SJA-CEO-EASTER-MESSAGE_.mp3"][/audio]

"We have to create this type of panel discussion so that we give them (the people) factual and substantial information so that they may be aware and conscious about the things that are going on in the country.” That’s from the University of Papua New Guinea President of the 2023 Student Representative Council Luther Kising during the opening of the important dialogue and panel discussion between Prime Minister James Marape and Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang, who were in the hot seats to discuss important issues affecting the country. Presidents from Tertiary institutions in the country joined in on the discussion at the UPNG’s New Lecture Theatre mainly from the University of Divine Word, University of Technology, University of Goroka, Pacific Adventist University, Institute of Business Studies University and of course the host of the dialogue, the University of Papua New Guinea. PM James Marape and Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang were questioned on pressing issues affecting the country and gave some feedback mainly about the lawlessness in the country, inflation, unemployment issues, IMF Loan, reform policies, revive of the constitution and the economy at hand. Marape said that he has heard the voice of the people through these young exceptional leaders but all this point questions fired at both leaders will not bring change automatically, it will take time and it will not be a rushed job. "The best contribution of every citizen can give to this country is respecting the rule of law.” PM Marape added, “On the unemployment issues in the country; the employment space is very limited and only up to 10-15 thousand people get employed.” Though Mr Lelang was quiet at his post, he was very open about the issues raised to him and the PM further stated that he would be happy to come back later to present their policies and ways forward. Meanwhile UOT President Jezi Walipi presented 3 petitions to the government side regarding the issues outlined by himself and the other SRC presidents on the amended Mining Act and other issues. Marape also appealed to all universities to not only teach the applied courses to students but to also teach business as our country has more opportunities with business. He left the students a parting remark stating, " Think about business and not just sitting behind a desk."

The nib Newcastle Knights, in conjunction with independent concussion consultants, have reviewed all available information and have approved for Kalyn Ponga to return to rugby league. Ponga recently flew to Vancouver, Canada for additional clinical and advanced neurophysiological assessment, with the results indicating the Knights co-captain is ready to resume his return to performance program. “We are comfortable with the objective evidence from our independent testing, indicating normalisation of his cognitive function,” nib Newcastle Knights Director of Football Peter Parr said. “Kalyn has recovered well from his recent concussion, however he has had limited specific training due toO the amount of travel he has had to undertake in recent weeks. “We will now focus on building his physical and tactical performance, with an aim to return in Round 8 against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.” The Knights wish to thank the many people who have shown care and support for Kalyn throughout this period. Kalyn will speak to club members and media, in the near future about his return to play. Source:NRL.Com

Storm hooker Harry Grant says Roosters counterpart Brandon Smith was uncharacteristically quiet all week ahead of his former teammate’s return to AAMI Park on Thursday night. The former AAMI Park crowd favourite copped boos and jeers from Storm fans – none bigger than when he knocked it on out of dummy-half during the second half – in his first visit to AAMI Park as a Rooster as the Tricolours went down to Melbourne. Grant revealed to newspapers this week that Smith – when still at Melbourne – used to send fired-up photos of man-mountain teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona to opponents he counted as friends in the week their teams would face off. The Storm rake kept expecting to see his phone light up this week with a photo of Roosters front-rower Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, but one never arrived. “He (Smith) didn’t send me any of Jared, I think he was playing hard ball this week,” Grant said after his side’s 28-8 victory. “He was a bit serious, he wasn’t texting or anything. “It was good to catch up with him and he’s done a lot for the club and won a grand final here, so he’s always welcome back.” Grant, who is close to Smith, said he didn’t want to “put any energy” into treating Smith as anything other than just another opponent on Thursday night. That was obvious in his deadly performance, with the Queensland State of Origin rake steering Storm to their best win of the season to date over a long-time rival. His highlight of the night was a dazzling 40-20, which gave Storm the perfect field position to set up winger Xavier Coates’ third try that sealed the win. Grant said he enjoyed the battle with Smith, but added that was never the main focus on Thursday night. “He (Smith) wasn’t too chirpy, he was pretty quiet but it was still good fun and it’s always fun playing against people you know,” Grant said. “I think we had a couple of losses there where we were playing some pretty ordinary footy, so to turn that around and to come away with a couple of good wins where we’ve just built each week is really pleasing. “In saying that, it’s a long season so we’ve got to keep doing it.” Storm coach Craig Bellamy praised Grant’s performance post-game, acknowledging it was the first time this season his No.9 hadn’t played the full 80 minutes. “I thought he overplayed his hand a couple of times, but I’d rather have him do that than underplay because he’s a very talented player and a very talented dummy-half,” Bellamy said. “We always look a little bit better when he’s up and running. “I thought the Cheese (Smith) played pretty good too…(and) I thought Harry was great. “It’s also the first time we’ve given him a rest this year as we got him off with six or seven minutes to go.” Fullback Nick Meaney, playmakers Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munster and Grant regularly combined to cut open the Roosters on Thursday night. Grant believed that combination would only continue to grow and flourish this year. “It was really good to have Hughesy back on deck tonight and to build our combination as a spine,” he said. “We had the first opportunity last year with Paps (injured fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen) and then we had a couple of injuries, which disrupted us a little bit. “But we did some work in the pre-season, so it’s time to now put it into play. It's really pleasing how that’s coming on, but we have a fair way to go too.” The performance of Storm centre Reimis Smith, who went toe to toe with Roosters star Joseph-Aukuso Suaali'i and held his own, was also not lost on Grant. “Reimis has come into some real good form and I thought he was outstanding tonight,” Grant said. “He was one on one with Suaalii many times and his defence was really good. “To be playing the footy he is six rounds in after some major injuries with his pec, and also Will Warbrick coming in after playing only a handful of games means they’re only going to get better as they go.” Source: NRL.com

The University of Papua New Guinea will host the much-anticipated panel discussion on the rising issues affecting the country today Wednesday 5th of April at the UPNG main campus New Lecture Theater. The program will start today at 3pm to 6pm. UPNG SRC President Luther Kising said, the Prime Minister James Marape and the Opposition leader Joseph Lelang have approved to be on the hot seats for the panel discussion. They already have the SRC presidents from the other universities on ground which includes the University of Technology, Divine Word University, Western Pacific University, University of Goroka, Institute of Business Studies University and the Pacific Adventist University on ground. The main issues they will cover are lawlessness in the country (Law & Order issues), inflation rates and unemployment rates. This is strictly for the students and not open to the public. “We are going to basically provide some of the information of the issues that are currently affecting the country and the people to the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader and ask them to give some feedback on that.” “And from there we will make recommendations and ask the government to to provide some of the information or steps that they are taking into place to look into the problems. ” Kising said this is a very important event and he is looking forward to it because this will provide information to the country and also educate and inform our people of what’s going on in the country. “Some people do not know what’s going on in the country so through this platform, we hope that we get the people who are running the country and managing the economy as well as the opposition side to come and discuss so that we inform and educate our people on what’s going on."