Port Moresby City health poor: MP

THE poor state of healthcare service delivery in the National Capital District (NCD) is appalling and needs to be fixed as soon as possible, an official says.
Following a visit to the NCD health authority’s Gerehu Hospital and the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH), the chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Health Elias Kapavore told health leaders on Friday that healthcare delivery in the city was disorganised, resulting in overcrowding and associated issues.
“On Thursday, my team went to Gerehu Hospital purposely to see what’s there and the current state is not that good,” he said.

“We then went to PMGH to see some advancement that is happening there.
“PMGH is trying to meet its level-six super-specialist national referral and teaching hospital status but the excess baggage of primary and secondary healthcare services that it is currently providing is dragging it back.
“A clear demarcation on what services to be provided at PMGH needs to be drawn.
“Half of the 1,200 beds at PMGH need to be given to the NCD health authority.”
Kapavore said the NCD health authority needed to rise up to the challenge to improve its facilities to cater for the increasing demand that was putting a strain on PMGH.
He pointed out that the NCD health authority had 250sq km of landmass to manage was getting around K40 million from the budget while East New Britain PHA with more than 15,000sqkm got less than K30 million.
Kapavore said the population size was huge but NCD health authority had only around 26 health facilities to manage and all the facilities could be reached by vehicle in a day whereas in ENB, land, sea and air transport would be needed to cover the more than 100 health facilities.
“There is no room for excuses,” he said.
“Do not pass the buck.
“The buck stops with the chief executive officer.
“Accountability rests with the leaders.
“The Health Department need to check if the PHAs are implementing the established standards and policy.”
Kapavore said for NCD, Gerehu Hospital must be built to a level-five facility and three other clinics should attain level-four district hospital within this five-year period.

The National / PNG Health news

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