Chimbu health sector doing better, official says

CHIMBU has yet to establish a provincial health authority (PHA) but still does better in its health programmes than other provinces, an official revealed.
Margaret Kaile, the province’s principal health adviser said health services in the province were getting good support from the provincial government health sector improvement project funds as well as from the National Government.
“Other provinces like Milne Bay, Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands have their health affairs being run by PHAs,” Kaile said.
“We can have our own PHA but because we have an effective health management system in the provincial health administration and the good support from the provincial government, we are just doing fine like provinces with PHA.”
She said the focus of the provincial health administration was to see health facilities made accessible to people in the rural areas and that vital drugs were also made available.
“We try to see that nurses reach out to the rural areas with TB drugs, vaccines for mother and child health care, medicines for the sick and injured.”
Kaile said the health team was always being reminded by the provincial administrator Joe Kunda Naur to be competent and committed in their job.
“The administrator always tells us to compete against each other (other divisions). So we try to beat each other and that is where we meet our challenges to be the best,” she said.
“Our governor Noah Kool is so cool. He is always supportive of the programmes we have and that motivates us to go the extra mile.
“Looking ahead, we still have a long way to go and have a lot of room for improvement.”