AusAID gives steriliser to Buka Hospital

National, Normal
Source:

The National,Tuesday 08th November 2011

by STEPHANIE ELIZAH
CONFIDENCE in Buka General Hospital’s delivery of quality patient care and treatment has been restored with a new sterilising machine funded by AusAID being commissioned last Friday.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Cyril Imako said the new Atherton steriliser would be handled with care by trained officers of the central sterilising unit.
“Buka Hospital deals with 200 surgical cases and up to 150 deliveries per month,” he said.
“These kind of figures demand high performance from our staff.
“Operating functional machines like this steriliser is critical to delivering quality care for our patients,” Imako said.
Director medical services Dr Barna­bas Matanu said Buka Hospital was the ninth hospital to launch this “state of the art” machine after eight other provincial hospitals around the country, including Manus, Kavieng, Port Moresby and Nonga, in East New Britain.
“We are very excited. The steriliser will enhance delivery and patient care of patients from throughout the autonomous region.
“Our surgeons and nurses will now be able to do their job in a much safer environment.
“They will work in realistic time as the machine can sterilise items in less than five minutes, which is a critical factor,” Matanu said.
Steven Greenleaf, installation engineer with Sterilising Equipment Supply and Services (SESS) Australia, said for the first time, the contract to supply and install sterilising equipment in PNG had a service contract attached.
“It is a major boost for health services as it not only allows the contractor to supply and install equipment but provide maintenance and upgrade service on a two-year basis,” he said.
Greenleaf, who spent a week in Buka installing the new machine, provided two days of technical training on how to operate the machine, including record keeping of data generated by the machine and how to recover from the constant power outages Buka town is prone to.