Children with undiagnosed heart conditions in East Sepik Province could be missing critical opportunities for treatment because specialist cardiac screening services are not reaching enough communities.

Senior Medical Officer in Paediatrics Dr Cecilia Pakule made the concern known following a two-day cardiac screening program at the provincial hospital, where about 11 inpatient and outpatient cases were assessed.

Dr Pakule said the number of children screened represented only a small portion of those who may be living with undiagnosed heart conditions across the province.

“There's patients still in the bushes somewhere, so we need to actively go and look out there for these kinds of patients,” she said.

East Sepik has a population of about 500,000 people, and Dr Pakule said reaching children in remote communities remained one of the biggest challenges facing the health system.

She said screening programs needed to be conducted more frequently and extended to districts to ensure children were diagnosed before their conditions became severe.

The doctor said the availability of echocardiography during the recent screening had also revealed heart problems that may previously have gone undetected.

Some children were found to have two or three heart problems.

Dr Pakule said early diagnosis was particularly important because untreated congenital heart conditions could lead to complications such as pulmonary hypertension.

In some cases, children who could have undergone corrective surgery may later become unsuitable for surgery because their condition has deteriorated.

She is calling for more health workers to receive basic cardiac screening training and for more paediatric cardiologists to be trained and deployed to regional hospitals.

Dr. Pakule said having specialists at the four regional hospitals could make cardiac services more accessible to children across the country.

She also suggested that provincial screening visits should be conducted at least annually, or even twice a year.

The recent screening program was supported by the East Sepik Provincial Health Authority and sponsors including Air Nuigini, BSP and the Brianbell Foundation.