East New Britain plans to roll out health authority

EAST New Britain will roll out its provincial health authority next year.
The provincial assembly last week approved the policy paper for the province to adopt the provincial health authority (PHA).
Deputy administrator for corporate services Nicholas Larme told the 14th National Nursing Research Symposium that ENB felt it was a critical policy so it waited and saw the challenges it presented in other nine provinces before it decided to implement it in the province.
Larme said the province was already implementing a structure similar to the PHA and to roll it out next year would be like “re-inventing the wheel”.
The assembly last week was told the PHA was a unified health system amalgamating the rural health service and hospital service at Nonga general hospital into a single structure.
Chairman of Health and
HIV/Aids George Warwaula said a unified healthcare system would be responsive to the needs of people in terms of healthcare services.
The provincial assembly endorsed an interim board of ENB PHA to perform under the PHA Act of 2007.