Church health services need support

 CHURCHES play a vital role in primary health care service delivery in Papua New Guinea.

The Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Seventh-Day Adventist, Nazarene and other Christian denominations account for 80 per cent of the country’s health services.

Up until only a few years ago, these churches were responsible for everything from building infrastructure, procurement and distribution of medical drugs and equipment and workers’ salaries and wages.

In recent times, the Government has taken over the responsibility of salaries and in some cases allocated operational grants to some of these vital establishments throughout the country.  

However, what was a welcome move by the Government became problematic for the churches, which were not getting the funds on time.

The issue first came to light early last year when the chairman of the Catholic Health Services, Archbishop Stephen Reichert, voiced concern that government funding for church health service providers was not received on time.

He said the release of salary and operation funds to the churches was often delayed. 

“Over the past 18 months, there have been frequent delays in the release of salary and operational grants for church-run facilities. 

As a result, many church health workers are not paid for two or three months at a time.  

Surely this injustice and violation of the rights of church health care providers is avoidable.”

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill assured the churches this week that K148 million had been allocated to the Christian Health Services (CHS) in the past two years to pay for salaries of health workers.

This amount is part of almost K4 billion that had been allocated to the PNG health sector in the past two years.

It is heartening to note that the Government will continue to fund the CHS to improve health services in rural areas.

O’Neill gave this assurance to CHS representatives when he opened their conference in Port Moresby on Monday. 

And he thanked the organisation for playing a very important role in delivering services on health promotion, clinical care and training. 

“I am pleased to be part of this meeting because I come from a very remote area too. I know the hardships and difficulties faced by churches in delivering care.”

Indeed, the Government and churches and have built a good partnership in the delivery of basic health services throughout the country.

This partnership must be nurtured with greater understanding between and among the various parties for the continued and improved provision of health services.  

It is a known fact that the government bureaucratic processes are too cumbersome and time consuming. 

What may be considered normal system delays by a government institution could easily cause serious disruptions to the provision of churches health services. 

The Prime Minister’s recommitment to the Church Health Services is most commendable and puts to rest fears by the various church health providers that they will continue to face problems of delayed government funding.

What must follow such commitment is ensuring that what is slotted to the various expenditure items is released on a timely manner.  

The churches have previously spoken out on this critical funding issue, which is faced by many other institutions that are dependent on the public purse for the provision of services.  

Besides the churches, there are other institutions including government agencies which had been facing similar funding problems in the past.

Archbishop Reichert’s call last year was a timely reminder to the O’Neill Government to crack the whip on the bureaucrats in Waigani.

Just as O’Neill warned on the bureaucratic delays in the payment of Tuition Fee Free funds last week, the Government needs to ensure that churches get their funds to continue paying salaries of their health workers who in turn provide these vital services to our rural people. 

All indications are that the church health service providers will get their funds on time this year. 

As CHS chief executive officer Joseph Sika said during the opening of their conference, the Government’s support had answered the prayers of churches in driving health work in PNG.