The Madang provincial Hospital has been functioning without an intensive care unit or ICU for more than 10 years.
Physician, Dr Martin Daimen, says the hospital’s ICU was closed due to manpower shortage and ICU equipment to operate as an Intensive Care Unit.
For now, all hospital wards have at least allocated four beds to ICU for health officers to look after acutely ill patients.
Intensive care units take care of patients with severe or life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
It requires constant care and close supervision from life support equipment and medication. It is the heart of any hospital.
But for Madang provincial Hospital the unit was closed for more than 10 years.
ICU is an important unit of any hospital that requires specialized trained nurses to work in. In the unit the ratio must be one nurse to a patient.
And Madang provincial hospital does not have enough ICU trained nurses with equipment to keep this important unit open for the people of Madang to get medical attention.
For now, patients requiring ICU care are accommodated at each of the hospital wards.
Adding more workload to the number of nurses stationed at each of the wards.
PHA CEO, Pau Mabong, says to addressed this problem they have sent a number of nurses to be trained as ICU nurses.
The Intensive Care Unit is empty. The unit still needs most of the equipment before it can be open for patients to use.
The unit would need at least 10 trained officers to work three shifts a day.
CEO Pau Mabong, says now ICU is one of the areas they are looking to address and fix for the hospital.
By Martha Louis, EMTV News, Madang.
