The National Health Department in 2017 will create a budget line for the Arawa School of Nursing in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
The announcement was made by Health Secretary, Pascoe Kase, following the certification of the Arawa School of Nursing to an academic institution.
This is part of the policies and strategies to open some of the closed schools because nursing services is a challenge.
“Arawa School of Nursing is one of those schools that was very viable and efficient in the early days but because of the civil war, it was closed,”
“So we have now given the green light for the school to be fully operational,” said Kase
The Health Secretary thanked the Bougainville Regional MP and Bougainville Affairs Minister, Joe Lera.
“I thank Mr Lera for being kind enough to put in the seed money to get it going,”
“But in the long run, NDoH will have to meet the budget in the normal budget process,”
Earlier this month, the Arawa School of Nursing was awarded a certification of compliance, which permits students to do their clinical training in health facilities throughout the Autonomous Region.
Director, Celine Tusalah, says the accreditation also approves 40 new intakes for next year; recognised by the PNG Nursing Council and the National Health Department.
She said the award of the provisional accreditation is a milestone achievement for Bougainville.
