A senior doctor at Lae’s Angau Hospital says there is still no change in the negative trend of heath services and the provision of medical supplies after 41 years of being independent as a nation.
Doctor in charge of Angau’s Accident and Emergency unit, Dr Alex Peawi, says women, children and even men are still dying from curable diseases while health facilities are deteriorating.
Dr. Peawi added that Angau and other hospitals in the country are running out of basic medical supplies and other consumables.
Peawi says, while the government focuses on improving the capital city with infrastructure and sporting facilities, the health sector is suffering.
He questioned, how much of the revenue that the country makes actually goes down to the people in the rural areas.
Peawi says, the shortage of health workers in the country is another problem. He adds, while the government is having talks with the Cuban Government on recruiting doctors into the rural areas, it will not solve the sector’s problems overnight.
The Doctor made these remarks after ACTS 29, a group mostly made up of nurses at the hospital, donated VP shunts- medical equipment used on patients suffering from hydrocephalus or swollen brains due to fluid retention.
Pediatrician, Dr. Rosemary Kipalan says they had been treating patients without the VP shunts for about a decade now.
The ten new VP shunts cost about K6000.
