Health centre needs assistance

BAKOIUDU Health Centre is located in Kuni LLG of Kairuku-Hiri district of Central.
It has 19 catchments and serves a population of 3000 -plus Kuni people, including national and international commuters travelling the Mona Highway to and from Port Moresby and Tapini.
Along the way people are likely to encounter accidents.
The health centre was built in 1962 by the late Fr Albert Bell, MSC (a Catholic priest from France), and was handed over to Catholic Health Services of the Diocese of Bereina for administration.
Under the management of Bereina Diocese health services, some minor renovation was done to the building but not to the standard that best suits the climate .
Year -in year-out, the dedicated and committed nurses stationed at the health centre keep it functioning despite challenges and problems they come across daily.
Current problems of the health centre related to staff housing, health centre building, drug storage (dispensary) room, administration office, medical equipment, labour ward and general outpatients.
If there were two or more mothers in labour at the same time, one mother uses the delivery bed while the others give birth on the floor.
It is sad when you are the only nurse at that time in the labour ward, trying your best to attend to all mothers in labour going through pain when there are insufficient resources.
The tuberculosis (TB), post-natal ward and emergency ward share a common room.
Just imagine a mother with her infant lying down for rest.
Into the same room for examination, diagnosis and treatment is a presumptive TB patient (what if the patient has TB bacilli and suddenly coughs and the innocent infant and her mother contracts/ inhales the TB bacilli?).
The general outpatient is used as interviewing and waiting area.
Other patients waiting for their turn can hear the conversation between the patient and the nurse.
The general ward is an open space, no proper bedding, no toilet and shower blocks, no lighting installed, no kitchen area for patient’s guardians to cook.
There are no medicine trolley, no on-call room, no nurse station, no shelves to store away drugs after daily use and no back-up water tank.
The voluntary confidential counselling and testing (VCCT) room is also located inside the general ward where one can hear what the client is telling the counsellor. With the above information given, I now call upon relevant authorities come in and help us as soon as possible.

Paul Pojie Dodbi
Advocator
Bakoiudu local