Doctors urged to return

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PAPUA New Guinea doctors who are without jobs or employed outside the country and want to join the public health should contact the Health Department.
This is according to National Health Board’s deputy chairman and Senior General Medical Practitioner Dr Mathias Sapuri. He said these doctors had to fill  the vacancies.
Sapuri said the National Health Board fully supported and would monitor the implementation of the Cuba-Papua New Guinea health diplomacy, an agreement that was signed  between the two Governments recently.
“The national doctors who are without jobs or employed outside the public health system and wishing to join the public health sector should immediately contact the National Department of Health Human Resource Department to fill in the current vacancies,” Sapuri said.
“Others could apply directly to provincial health authorities through the CEOs.
“The  Department of Health and the Government of PNG will also explore options with other countries with similar arrangements for specialist doctors, specialist nurses, midwives and all the other cadres of health professionals.
“The objective is to rebuild our national health workforce in the immediate and medium term and rebuild our national health training institutions and establish the new University of Medicine and Health Sciences to expand and train our own health human resource.”
Sapuri made the comments following a media conference hosted by the Health Department in Port Moresby yesterday on an understanding the Government recently had with Cuba to bring in doctors to work in remote parts of the country.
He said the agreement includes the following categories:

  • Health workforce – in the next three months, 20 to 30 Cuban doctors will be deployed to at least 10 district hospitals in the country where there are no doctors;
  • An immediate deployment of a cancer specialist to Angau Hospital will be done and employment of some biomedical technologists;
    Provide professors to the proposed new University of Medicine and Health Science that will be established by the government, and it will be called the ‘Papua New Guinea University Medicine and Health Sciences;
  • Health research and training – assist Papua New Guinea in health research and collaboration – assist PNG in training its PNG medical university post-graduate students in Masters and post-Masters training;
    Assist to train biomedical technologist and other cadres in health work force;
  • Medicines and medical supplies and technology – Cuba to assist PNG with medical drugs and vaccines for general medical diseases and non-communicable drugs in diabetes, cancer and hypertension. Assist Papua New Guinea with medical supplies and diagnostic technologies;
  • Information and communication technology. To assist Papua New Guinea with health information and technology; and,
  • Asset and infrastructure – assist Papua New Guinea with health assets and infrastructure development and reestablish a reliable rural health care system.