COMMUNITY

Madang will regain its pride

By Dr KEVIN PAMBA
NOT all provincial towns in Papua New Guinea can boast of hosting national institutions such as universities and major business houses. Towns that do are a fortunate minority.
Madang is one such privileged provincial town. It hosts Divine Word University’s main campus, one of the nations’ beacons of hope.
The contribution of DWU to the Madang economy was highlighted at the recent DWU Alumni Association’s corporate dinner hosted at the Madang Resort Hotel.
DWU’s Vice President for Corporate Services Paias Bokorum pointed out the contributions the university makes to the economy of Madang to the invited guests and diners.
Bokorum said DWU spent significant sums of money in the Madang economy through the provision of goods and services and in employment.
He said DWU was one of the major employers in the town thus contributing notably in taxes.
Bokorum said hotel rooms in Madang town got booked out during major DWU events such as the annual graduation ceremony in March.
He said DWU thus deserved support and goodwill from the business houses and the public so that it could continue to contribute to the socio-economic success of the town once dubbed the Pearl of the Pacific.
He thanked all the business houses that supported and participated in the corporate dinner. Bokorum said the contributions of the business houses and individuals were for a good cause – to continue to build DWU for the benefit of young Papua New Guineans and their parents and the communities the graduates contribute to with their skills and knowledge.
Bokorum, a DWU alumni and a local from Madang Province, is spot on in pointing out the socio-economic contributions of DWU to a provincial town.
Besides DWU, Madang also hosts the PNG Maritime College, Madang Technical College, Lutheran School of Nursing, Madang Teachers College and a string of small-scale colleges besides the secondary and primary schools. The district also hosts the PNG Institute of Medical Research and Binatang Research Centre. Not far up the North Coast Road from Madang district is the PNG Cocoa and Coconut Research Institute in Sumkar District.
Two canneries, Global Manufacturing Ltd and RD Tuna Canners, are located in Madang District. The PNG subsidiary of Chinese mining conglomerate China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) is based in Madang town.
There are two timber milling plants in the district and two coconut oil mills on the shoreline of the town along with several cocoa and copra buying depots.
Madang town is home to the renowned Melanesian Tourist Services with its iconic Madang Resort Hotel and Kalibobo Village which continues to improve and expand its facilities under trying circumstances. Due to the presence and influence of MTS, international tourist cruise liners make a port of call on the shores of Madang every year.
The town also hosts other hostelries such as Madang Star International Hotel, Madang Lodge and Apartments, Comfort Inn (previously Coast Watchers Hotel), Smugglers Inn and a string of budget accommodation.
The PNG factory of global tobacco conglomerate, British American Tobacco, is in Madang town.
Helicopter hire firm, Heli Niugini Ltd recently opened its posh transit apartment called Nambis Inn with priceless views of the seas of Astrolabe Bay along Coronation Drive.
Recently, high-end clothing retailer Jacks opened a shop along Modilon Road. Bon Café is to follow next. Big Rooster also moved to Madang and is putting finishing touches to its new eatery in the centre of town before it opens.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Madang wants to build a second secondary school in town and is appealing to authorities to release the idle Yabong Field for this important purpose. The archdiocese is seriously concerned with the problem of overcrowding and lack of space in Tusbab Secondary School hence is offering a solution.
The steadfast resolve of institutions like DWU, business houses and the Archdiocese of Madang to continue to invest in the town belies the blight of bad press in recent times relation to the untoward conduct of certain members of the Madang community.
Their belief in the town and district, with a lot of WW2 history suggests that Madang is certainly not down and out.
It us up to the people and their leaders to meet their side of the bargain to allow Madang, which the colonial-era Germans called Wilhelmshafen, to regain its rightful place.

• Dr Kevin Pamba is based in Divine Word University, Madang.

HEALTH

Cancer patients claim to be cured

By PAUL MINGA
CANCER is as deadly when treatment and facilities are unavailable or beyond the reach of patients.
Seeking any form of medical attention and treatment nowadays both abroad and within PNG means a lot of money.
Most ordinary Papua New Guineans who can’t afford the cost of treatment for diseases including cancer most are left to suffer in agony and eventually die a silent death. But some locally produced herbal medicines extracted from PNG’s abundant flora species and garden foods have been proven to heal diseases such as cancer as some patients have testified.
I spoke to two Port Moresby residents who have testified about one such herbal medicine. These patients have been cured of cancer of the neck and breast respectively.
The two cancer patients who got their cancer treated have highly praised Peter Mollomb the local herbs producer for his Wara Hall herbal products. Mollomb is herbalist whose products have seen proven and his patients are going back to testify of the wonders of his products.
A male patient who had been treated of neck cancer came back to say thank you and showed the cancer scar on his neck while a female who had breast cancer testified that she took Peter’s herbs and was cured of her cancer.
She says she is now in a stable condition and is breastfeeding her one week old baby.
David Kaupa, 36, from Nomane in Chimbu told his story pointing to a scar on his neck on Wednesday, Aug 21, in front of onlookers at 4-Mile where the herbalist was selling his products in front of the shops as usual opposite Boroko Police Station.
Kaupa said that he had a first stage cancer of the neck in April 2018 when puss came out of his neck. He thought that the puss was coming from an ordinary sore but it was not. He said the puss from his neck seemed to flow without stopping. It was confirmed through a test at the Port Moresby General Hospital on April 23, 2018 that he had cancer.
Kaupa said he was very worried, wondering what would happen next. “I was recommended several manufactured cancer medicines by doctors from POMGH but the cost of those medicines was really high for me to afford. I tried cheap herbal medicines from two different producers until I came to Wara Hall herbs and it worked.

“I saw improvements in my condition when the flow of puss began to slow down and the sore gradually shrunk. I feared that Wara Hall Herbs might all be sold out in a mad rush if other patients in Port Moresby begin to realised their effects and potential so I went back to get a second lot of Wara Hall herbs but this time I purchased two 500ml containers to ensure I had enough to complete the treatment fully.
“After taking the second container of herbal treatment as advised by the producer I noticed big signs of improvement with the cancer sore being leaving me happy,” he said.
The second cancer patient who was healed of breast cancer by Wara Hall herbs is Maria Joseph, 30, from Tari in Hela. Maria, a mother of four children who now lives here in Port Moresby, had breast cancer when she was about 19 years old. The cancer developed when she was in her home province
Maria told her story on Monday, Sept 2 from her market stall at Waigani near Telikom Rumana building. She said that painful disease developed when she was still a young woman in Tari. She said what first appeared as a lump on her right breast later developed into cancer over a time.
The first lump grew to as big as an egg and a few smaller lumps also emerged and were about the size of marbles appearing from the same right breast. When the lumps broke open, puss and blood came out continuously.
“I knew that it was cancer but since there was no cancer medicines available in my province’s health facilities, I decided to take herbs from local producers in and around Mendi. But those herbs were not helpful in stopping the cancer. After I travelled to Port Moresby in 2015, I looked for breast cancer medicine in the city’s main hospital including all the clinics in the city but the recommended drugs and medicines from those city health facilities didn’t make much impact. My family wasted so much on cancer drugs that were of our reach including herbal medicines.
“I was delighted that at last Wara Hall herbs’ healing potential became evident. In fact, I had suffered for more than a decade as a young woman where no other manufactured drugs or local herbs were as helpful in making significant impact as Wara Hall herbs did.
“Therefore I would recommend this Wara Hall herbs as a next available hope,” Maria said.
We all know, cancer is one of the major killer disease among others like malaria, TB and HIV-Aids in PNG.
Past successive governments have not done much to address the plight of PNG cancer patients in the country by rehabilitating the country’s only cancer centre at Angau Memorial General Hospital. That resulted in thousands of cancer patients losing their lives over the years.
However, when the new Marape and Davis Government came into power in August, 2019 there was a glimmer of hope with the good news of the order of a brand new cancer treatment radiotherapy machine.
The new government is trying to address the much-talked about issue of no cancer radiotherapy treatment machine in the country and aims to replace the aging cancer treatment machine at Angau hospital that has been left idle for years. But the question now is, will this newly purchased and expensive cancer treating machine be used to treat patients for free or will there be any form of fees to be charged?
If fees are to be paid by cancer patients then this will be only a good news for well off and working class people who have money to access treatment.
Therefore we poor and ordinary Papua New Guineans must turn to herbal medicines as an alternative treatment.
Peter Mollomb the producer of Wara Hall herbs can be contacted on 72255275 or 72191459.

• Paul Minga is a freelance writer.