Briefs

Facilities upgraded
Key health infrastructure in Bougainville will be upgraded. This includes a joint project by the Australian and New Zealand governments to upgrade the Suhin Health Centre facilities on Buka Island (over K450,000) to be used as an isolation ward to treat patients and help prevent the spread of the virus. This builds on the four community health posts funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank in 2019, which the ABG Department of Health will also utilise to treat patients and contain the spread of the virus.

Partnership intact
Australia, New Zealand and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) are working together to help protect Bougainville from Covid-19 by providing communication support. In partnership with the national government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s Department of Health and Bureau of Media and Communications, Australia and New Zealand will provide more than K400,000 in technical assistance and support to distribute information to local communities on how to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Apply online
People can now apply online for domestic travel, says SOE controller and Police Comm David Manning. He said a criteria is that a one-way ticket would be issued to people returning to their usual place of residence. The website address is: covid19.info.gov.pg

Bury dead quickly
State of emergency controller and provincial administrator Wilson Matava says that all deaths in the village must be quickly arranged for burial – within 24 hours. He said there would be no haus krai (place for mourning) and these would be strictly monitored by ward members

Concern raised
Kabwum district chief executive officer Leka Stanley is concerned that frontline workers in Morobe aren’t issued with PPEs. “We have allocated K300,000 for the Covid-19 awareness and preparations but we still need PPEs for our health workers and volunteers,” Stanley said.

Lae getting PPEs
LAE MP John Rosso assured approximate numbers of testing kits and personal protective equipment will be available in Lae this week. Rosso said that PPEs such as face shields, heavy duty gowns, gloves, boots and overalls to handle extreme patients were crucial to ensure their lives were protected.

Awareness eyed
The Australian government’s K47 million package of support and the support provided by the New Zealand government to PNG’s response to Covid-19 will help better inform people on how to keep their families and communities healthy and safe, and ensure the PNG and Autonomous Bougainville governments are better positioned to respond to any health crisis.