Course excites Tatireta

PHILOMENA Tatireta is a focused person who aims to get things done.
She is undergoing an advanced masters programme in health services management at the Griffith University, southeast Queensland, Australia.
The programme primarily centres on effective management of health facilities and the services they provide, to address contemporary problems stemming from health and social care management issues.
However, Tatireta has not done the course conventionally – she has been doing it online all this time as a result of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Before her master’s programme, Tatireta was working with two international non-governmental organisations in the field of public health, starting with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF France) or Doctors Without Borders, coordinating tuberculosis (TB) projects in Gulf and National Capital District.
She later joined the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) and is currently serving as a health officer and the health in emergency focal point for PNG.
Tatireta’s work to improve the current services and consultations she provides to the Health Department was a key factor in her taking up the advanced masters programme.
“The most interesting thing about this programme is the fact that it offers enhanced insights and invaluable knowledge on how I ought to support the Health Department better, particularly in managing the scarce resources available to us for optimal patient outcomes.”
This is something that Tatireta is quite excited to embark on when she resumes her duties with Unicef after her studies.
She highlighted some significant issues PNG was struggling with in terms of managing its health facilities.
With more than 80 per cent of the population located in rural areas and less than 50 per cent of the total number of health facilities serving that rural population, Tatireta outlined that PNG currently had inadequate resources in the health sector to meet the growing demands of populaces.
Apart from the geographical challenges that exist, issues with sustaining the functionality of health facilities across the country are ongoing.
Ensuring that hospitals are equipped with the necessary and adequate health professionals, diagnostic and treatment amenities are inevitably a major concern.