Angau wins praise from minister

HEALTH minister Sasa Zibe has commended the staff and management of Angau for their efforts in managing the treatment centre and treating the cholera patients despite limited funding.
He said this after he was made aware that certain individuals had made negative remarks on how the cholera treatment centre was being managed.
Mr Zibe said the individuals had no right to make such remarks.
He was also frustrated  with  the Finance Department for the delay in releasing the K8 million that was already approved.
Chief executive officer for Angau Memorial Hospital Dr Polapoi Chalau said the centre was faced with the problem of limited staff and this had caused certain hiccups.
He said given that, the available staff had worked hard to run the centre and treat the patients efficiently.
Dr Chalau also said he had spent the past two weeks trying to seek funding to engage more staff.
He said yesterday that a total of K3 million was given to the province to address the management and treatment of cholera.
Dr Chalau said additional staff were recruited and were now working in the centre.
Meanwhile, the number of cases within the last three weeks have picked up from two cases a day to, five to eight cases a day.
He said at one point 20 patients were admitted in one day.
Dr Chalau said the cases came in from within Lae and the Markham areas.
The Markham district recently reported a number of cholera cases.
Environmental health officials have proposed for a cholera treatment unit to be set up at the health centre to avoid further spread of the virus.
Accurate figures of cases admitted will be given tomorrow at the task force meeting.
This meeting will be the final for the year and will resume next month.