Port Moresby General Hospital overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients

​THE number of Covid-19 patients turning up at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) is much higher than the available manpower to deal with them, an official says.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said with the closure of the Gerehu Hospital, the number of patients arriving at the emergency department had recently been increasing.
He said there was a shortage of manpower because 120 hospital staff had been infected and isolated. Most are from the emergency department.

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“We are in a situation where more Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients are being attended to by a limited and over-stressed staff,” he said.
“In January alone, we reported zero positive cases in a total of 123 swabs collected on symptomatic patients.
“In February, we noticed a sharp rise in the positivity rate of Covid-19 cases. Of 380 swabs collected on symptomatic patients, 10 per cent were positive or 39.
“Now, the trend is a 70 per cent infection rate in positive cases.
“That is, out of every 10 patients symptomatic for an acute respiratory illness and are being tested for Covid-19, seven are found to be positive.
“One section of emergency is always full with Covid-19 patients awaiting transfer to the isolation ward.”

The National / PNG Health News

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