City hospital awaits funds

THE Port Moresby General Hospital is still waiting for K6.5 million from the Department of Treasury to complete renovation on the emergency unit, chief executive officer, Dr Sam Vegogo says.
Vegogo said of the K6.5 million, K2 million was for the renovation and K4.5 million would be used to buy equipment for the emergency unit.
“I don’t know when treasury will release the money,” he said.
He said the hospital was using its own funds to carry out some general maintenance such as repainting the building, upgrading the car park area and fencing.
Vegogo said there were no clear policies on how to implement the free health policy of the Peter O’Neill government.
He said there were regulations allowing fees to be charged and they had to be repealed by new laws before the new policy could be implemented.
He said the hospital was using funds from its recurrent budget and the user-fee policy helped it to cater for unplanned situations such as drug shortages.