By Staycey Yalo, EMTV News, Port Moresby
Residents of the National Capital District now have a new Tuberculosis facility at the Port Moresby General Hospital.
The new facility is complemented with a Pathology lab that is aimed at improving access and diagnostic tests for TB.
Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, who officiated the opening of the facility says TB patients must take responsibility to complete their medication and prevent further spread of TB.
The standalone TB clinic facility will be able to conduct X-rays and sputum examinations of TB patients, adults and children daily.
The two-room facility is a relocation required to reduce the risk of other hospital patients and hospital staff from contracting TB.
The new facility is to be named after Bougainvillean TB advocate, the late Dr. Joseph Bana-Koiri.
Prime Minister O’Neill says despite the limited resource and challenges in the health sector, his government is committed to Health and have fully funded the sector for 2018.
Mr O’Neill says there are plans underway to construct district health care facilities which are specifically budgeted for in 2018.
The new facility would support the concept of screening and treating the family as a whole, and the introduction of a new child-friendly TB medication in the country.
The facility also encourages more adults and children to visit the clinic and be immediately treated if they experience common symptoms like coughing for two weeks, fever, night sweats, loss of appetite or weight loss.
