Another doctor in House

By LULU MARK
THERE is a fourth doctor in the House – Dr Billy Joseph who is the new Nipa-Kutubu MP.
He joins Wabag MP Dr Lino Tom, Tewai-Siassi MP Dr Kobby Bomareo and Abau MP Dr Sir Puka Temu in Parliament.
The four, out of the 30 medical practitioners who contested, made it through the General Election 2022 (GE22) successfully.
“The reasons doctors get into politics vary.
“But generally, I believe when you work in the hospital, you do not deal only with diseases but also other issues which you want to find solutions for,” he said.
“There are social issues such as gender-based violence, issues relating to development such as people having problems getting to the nearest hospital or health facility because there are no roads.
“Mothers giving birth in the jungles or inside trucks.
“People look at doctors and health workers as the solution to all medical problems. But in reality, we deal with all kinds of problems that people bring to the hospital.”
Joseph replaced Jeffrey Komal as Nipa-Kutubu MP.
“When we had the Coronavirus (Covid-19), it really tested our ability to manage diseases,” he said.
“Our health system is a very fragile and the infrastructure we have like Port Moresby General Hospital was built to cater for 200,000 people. But now you have a million people in the city.
“The facility has not changed but the population has increased and that’s the same story in all parts of our country.”
He also wanted to enter politics because Nipa-Kutubu, despite having the oldest oil and gas projects, “fall well behind the rest of the country in as far as human development indices are concerned”.

No driver to bring accused, court told

POLICE told a court yesterday that a man charged with murder was absent because there was no driver to bring him from Bomana prison where he was remanded.
Police prosecutor Sergeant George Vetari told Central Committal Court Magistrate Hilda David Aipi that other accused people remanded at Bomana could not come to court for the same reason.
Vetari said most police and prison officers were engaged in the election operations.
“There is a high risk if we bring those in remand down to court that if they escape, there is not enough manpower available to recapture them,” he said.
Vetari asked the court to adjourn the case of Vagi Vali, 21, of Rigo’s Matuagolo village in Central who was facing a murder charge.
Magistrate Aipi adjourned the case to Aug 17 and told Vetari to make sure that all those in custody be brought to court for their cases.
Police alleged that Vali was married to the deceased Joyce Vailala.
On April 19, between 1pm and 5pm, Vali allegedly took her to a garden and assaulted her, causing her death.

Official hopes to declare seat soon

MADANG’s Election Manager Sponsa Navi is keeping his fingers crossed that counting for the governor’s seat will be completed soon and a winner declared.
It followed a delay in counting yesterday during the elimination stage when progressive figures of candidates submitted to the central tally could not be reconciled.
“Everything doesn’t always work out well. Normally figures do not match at times especially during eliminations,” he said.
Assistant provincial returning officer Albert Ului told the scrutineers that some district returning officers did not produce regional returns from their electorates.
Navi confirmed that only a few had returned their data on time.
“If they had given this in early, it would have us given ample time to work things out,” he said.
“All of them are in Port Moresby to return the writs for their electorates.”