Children die in disease outbreak

ALMOST 20 children between one and 10 years old and elderly women have died over the past five weeks after an outbreak of whooping cough in Finschhafen’s Burum-Kuat local-level government area, Morobe.
Lambaty Health Centre chairman Frank Temba said yesterday that the outbreak, which started early last month, had taken its toll and many children and older people were getting ill.
Temba said 13 villages in four wards of more than 5000 people were being affected by the airborne disease, with Awengu village in ward 23 reporting the highest number of deaths.
The health division in Lae sent two medical staff to Awengu last week to help locals deal with the situation. Temba said that he had been trying to speak with Finschhafen MP Rainbo Paita since last week but he had been unsuccessful.
It is understood that the latest supply of medicines to the Lambaty Health Centre is still at Ogerenang Health Centre waiting to be taken by foot.
“I am calling on the Finschhafen MP and other MPs in Morobe to help quickly as the situation on the ground now needs urgent action before more children and old people die,” he said.
The health division in Lae reported that the immunisation process carried out had not reached that part of the country, making the children vulnerable to diseases.