Association calls to step up coronavirus preparations

The National National

By LULU MARK
THE Papua New Guinea Nurses’ Association (PNGNA) is calling on the Government and the Health Department to step up the coronavirus (Covid-19) emergency preparedness.
PNGNA general secretary Gibson Siune said it seemed that not much had been done and the association was concerned because if the virus entered the country, nurses would be at the forefront to assist.
He said coronavirus was a serious infectious diseases that claimed many lives of health workers in countries with high health standards.
Siune said within the health sector there were two levels of health service delivery which were the preventative health and curative health.
In terms of prevention, he said there were only talks in the media by health officials but there were no community awareness on the coronavirus and even most nurses were not well versed with the disease.
He said these were the nurses who were the frontline in curative health.
“The question we now have is, if we have a case and if we are not prepared and if a nurse gets infected what are we going to do? Nurses are not covered under the Health Department’s insurance,” Siune said.
“PNGNA concern is our nurses, the health and wellbeing of our nurses.”
Siune said the Health Department needed to:

  • ESTABLISH quality standard isolation facilities across all facilities in the country;
  • INCREASE coronavirus awareness in communities;
  • TRAIN and equip the nurses with adequate and appropriate knowledge about the coronavirus before they come into engagement with an infected patient; and,
  • PROVIDE personal protective equipment (PPE) for nurses.

Siune said Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) should not establish the isolation centre because it was a national referral centre and there were many critically ill patients there.
He said people who were dying around the world had other diseases and medical conditions therefore it was risky to have an isolation facility at PMGH.
“A new facility must be built as soon as possible to isolate the coronavirus patients.
“It’s not the time to talk and preach, it’s time to act,” he said.