Angau to hire oncologist: Official

By JIMMY KALEBE
THE Papua New Guinea Cancer Unit at Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae is hopeful of recruiting the services of a new oncologist in the next few months, an official says. Morobe health authority chief executive officer Dr Kipas Binga said negotiations and preparations were underway to bring in the oncologist. The country has no specially trained oncologist but with the generous support of Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd financially, part of that package will go towards training. “This is especially to try to train a national to become an oncologist which in future we do not have to look for a specialist overseas,” Dr Binga said. According to Dr Binga, the new oncologist who will be hired from overseas will be on a three-year contract. “We should have the oncologist on the ground before the radiation machine is brought into the country,” he said. He said Morobe PHA was looking at bringing in the radiation source for radiation therapy by the end of the year but that all depended on how soon necessary preparations were done to cater for that. With the new facilities up at Angau now, the cancer unit will be one of those that will undergo refurbishments. Dr Binga said if the cancer unit was to be fully equipped as planned, it would be the first sub-specialised unit at Angau.