Churches strong ally of government, says doctor

CHURCHES are a strong ally of the government and play a pivotal role in providing healthcare to PNG people, says West New Britain health authority chairman Dr Mathias Sapuri.
The PNG Church health services (CHS) to date remain the biggest health partner that owns and manages 47 per cent of the health facilities in the country, with about 850 health facilities and 20 training institutions with a workforce of more than 4,100 staff running these institutions.
“Through the service level partnership agreement signed with the National Government through the Department of Health, salaries and wages of CHS workforce have become the responsibility of the National Government,” Dr Sapuri said.
He said despite its commitment under the partnership agreement to pay for salaries and wages for church health workers, the government had not done so and this caused salaries to fall into arrears for up to several months.
“I am aware that this situation existed before the Covid-19 and was creating hardship for workers and their families,” he said.
“The emergence of the new global pandemic had not worsened the wellbeing of the workforce but also introduced great risks to the patients that depend on these hard-working church health workers,” he said.
“Under the provincial health authorities, church and government healthcare providers are united and operate hand in hand to provide an essential service to our people.
“Seeing the plight of these workers convinces me that there is injustice and a violation of rights of these individuals.”