CEO: No plans for labour ward due to no funds

National, Normal
Source:

The National- Tuesday, January 25, 2011

 By ALISON ANIS

PORT Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer, Sam Vegogo, said there are no immediate extension plans for the hospital including the maternity wing, which receives 40 to 50 visits a day from mothers, to its labour ward.

Vegogo said the focus currently was on major renovations to be carried out in specific sections of the hospital while expansion plans had been considered but could not be executed due to limited funding.

The labour ward has 23 beds for mothers during child labour but that hospital’s nursing staff have expressed concerns that space was lacking, considering the increase in number of mothers it had been receiving.

“We do about 30 deliveries in a day, on average. 

“The labour ward is busy everyday with mothers coming from the city and even from villages in Central, so there is a need for extra beds in the ward,” a nurse at maternity wing said recently.

She said the something must be done at the wards 9, 10 and 11 of the maternity wing to ease the problem with overcrowding and with the many mothers sleeping on bare floors when they are admitted. 

“We have considered major infrastructure to the hospital but these may not happen immediately.

 “We have drafted the 2011-15 service improvement plan (SIP) which includes all clinical services and also infrastructure and starting 2012 budget we are looking at marginal increase that can be able to help us improve not only the building but the training of personnel staff or people to maintain these infrastructure,” Vegogo said.

The CEO added that the hospital’s SIP would be presented in March with the corporate plan.