Central looks to set up provincial health authority

By HELELN TARAWA
THE Health Department and the Central government have started discussions on the formation of a provincial health authority, an official says.
Ken Wai, the department’s executive manager strategy policy division who accompanied Health Secretary Pascoe Kase to the talks, said Central was the only province without a provincial hospital.
Wai said a provincial hospital was a requirement for the provincial health authority.
He told the provincial health officers that a submission would be made to the National Executive Council once the names of the board members was received.
He said they must also declare Kwikila as the interim provincial hospital.
“We will use that to treat your case like Tari or Hela,” he said.
“We will do a structure for it to be funded.
“You can even share those resources with other health centres in the province while we are looking at building the hospital at Bautama.
“A hospital is a huge project and it will take time. So you need to build the headquarters, police station, water, sanitation (facilities).
“So with the declaration of the provincial health authority plus the hospital, we should be able to talk with the Department of Personnel Management and Treasury for the money to support you to run the
hospital until such a time that Bautama comes into place.”