Chinese medical team to help hospital staff

By PETER ESILA
THE Health Department has welcomed a 10-member Chinese medical team to work at the Port Moresby General Hospital.
“The programme has been running for 16 years now,” Deputy Health Secretary Dr Paison Dakulala said in a briefing on Friday.
Dakulala said the relationship between PomGen as the country’s referral and teaching hospital and the affiliated hospital of Chinas’ Chongqing Medical University was one that was highly cherished by Papua New Guineans.
“We are very excited at a time like this where we need a lot of strength and expertise,” he said.
Dakulala said the hospital needed expertise on specific areas including neurology, diagnostic capacity in radiology, pain management and chronic pain needs to help Papua New Guineans.
“There is a lot of opportunities in health that we can explore and that we can give to our people where we find it difficult in areas of medicine.
“I also see an exploration of expansion into telemedicine, which I think is a very interesting innovation.”
Chongqing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission vice director-general Fang Mingjin, World Health Organisation country representative Dr Luo Dapeng and counsellor from the Chinese Embassy Liu Linlin were present at the briefing.
“Through this kind of health cooperation, the relationship between China and PNG will be strengthened and the China medical team is good friends with PNG people,” Linlin said.
Located in South-West China, Chongqing is the fourth municipal directly under the central government and responsible for dispatching the China medical teams since 2002.
At present, a US$1 million (K) worth of joint programme between the two hospitals to build a centre for urology minimally invasive surgery in PomGen is under construction.
Though this programme, the Chinese government will make a donation of urological minimal invasive surgical equipment and supplies.
Chinese medical team leader Dr He Weiyang, a senior neurological consultant, said great importance would be focused on urology minimally invasive surgery, which was designed to provide patients with high quality minimal invasive surgical care.
“This centre will be the most advanced and sophisticated one in PNG,” Weiyang said.