The Rumginae School of Nursing in the North Fly District of Western Province is in urgent need of emergency food supplies to support its staff members and boarding students. 

Currently, the school has zero stock of food rations left. The severe shortage has begun affecting daily teaching, learning activities, and student clinical practicals. Essential store goods—including rice, flour, oil, and biscuits—are entirely unavailable due to widespread supply depletion across major commercial outlets in Kiunga, Ningerum, and Tabubil.

Despite an ongoing, severe dry spell impacting the region, the health institution has pushed forward with classes and academic assessments to ensure students can successfully graduate this year. School Principal Mr. Amos Kupaloma stated that the administration has been forced to buy whatever local garden food is available in surrounding villages near Kiunga just to sustain operations.

“We have been surviving on sago, bananas, greens, pumpkins, and whatever other local foods we can source over the last six months. We have completely exhausted the school's operational budget to feed the students. This school belongs to the people of Western Province, and we desperately need relevant provincial and district authorities to step in and assist us,” Kupaloma said

The institution has been waiting for relief provisions promised by the North Fly District Development Authority (NFDDA). While the NFDDA committed to distributing relief supplies to the North Fly population this month, the cargo remains stalled in Port Moresby, creating a critical bottleneck that directly threatens student welfare.

“We have only two months left before the end of the academic year,” Kupaloma warned. “If these supplies do not arrive on time, the school will likely be forced to close early.” 

The administration originally planned to rely on local village markets to feed its 102 students, but the prolonged drought has dried up area gardens, leaving local vendors with very little produce to sell. 

Compounding the food shortage, the facility is also facing water challenges. The campus currently relies on the nearby Wai Mairi River for washing, laundry, and ablution blocks. Clean drinking and cooking water must be fetched and transported from limited fresh sources at Tope Village and select spots 17 kilometers out along the Kiunga-Tabubil Highway. 

The school administration is issuing an urgent appeal to neighboring village communities in the North Fly District, corporate partners, and state authorities to support the frontline medical training facility with immediate food and relief supplies