By SENT TIMBI
A SPECIALIST in charge of the Mt Hagen General Hospital’s pathology department is fed up that his repeated requests for more staff were being ignored.
He told a meeting of the Western Highlands AIDS Council and stakeholders on Wednesday that if nothing was done to improve the situation and ease his workload, he would shut down the department.
“If the hospitals and concerned authorities want proper data on HIV/AIDS cases from the region, then they have to provide me with additional support staff to carry out the testing,” Dr Zure Kumbati said.
He also said that the only CD4 machine used to test blood samples of people in the region for HIV/AIDS was sent to Brisbane, Australia, for repairs last year and was still there.
Council chairman Rev James Koi said if the department was shut down, most of the work carried out in the past few years would be wasted.
“The department plays a instrumental role in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” Rev Koi said.
“Every voluntary counselling and testing centre, health centre and sub-health centre in the province and even in Enga, Southern Highlands and parts of Simbu would be affected.
“It would be a disaster, and I hope concerned authorities will look into the matter seriously and resolve the situation,”he said.