Covid-19 affects hospital

THE Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 since the beginning of the month with more than 140 staff infected and it is fortunate that they will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine today, an official says.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said the hospital had 1,600 staff so that was the number of doses for PMGH from the 8,000 doses donated by the Australian government and 40 per cent (640) of the staff from doctors, nurses and support staff had volunteered to be vaccinated.
He said over the last three weeks, attention had diverted from the other diseases to combat the Covid-19 and this stressed their manpower and he thanked the Australian government for donating the vaccines.
Dr Molumi said this at a press conference on Friday after several vaccination awareness sessions for the staff.
He said due to the misinformation shared on social media, many staff had doubts towards being vaccinated, hence, the hospital organised awareness sessions to address the misconceptions about vaccines and help the staff understand the importance of vaccination.
Senior doctors from the University of Papua New Guinea school of medicine and health science, PMGH, Institute of Medical Research including the Ausmat team, World Health Organisation and United Nations agencies took part in the advocacy programme over zoom conference and in person.
“We want all our staff to be vaccinated, no one will force (them) but we must provide the right information,” he said.
“Our staff must be protected and the rest of health workforce and population in the country must prepare to get the vaccine.”
Dr Molumi also called on the public to stop spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 and the vaccine on social media.
He said the hospital had a strict policy for people posting on social media and some staff were the facing disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, acting medical service director Dr Noah Tapaua said the hospital was full of Covid-19 patients and it was affecting the staff.
“We have very limited number of medical officers, nurses and we cannot go on like this,” he said.
“The vaccine is just like any other vaccine for polio or measles, you will have side effects.
“The side effects are minor but it will protect you in the long run.”