Dept to address aging workforce

THE Department of Health will increase the employment of younger workers to address aging work force, Secretary Pascoe Kase says.
Speaking at the national development forum last week, Kase said this was among approaches the department was considering.
“The PNG health sector is a complex and dynamic environment which is dealing with enormous challenges but is moving forward,” he said.
“Partnership is one of our key drivers to take us into the future by building the health work force to a level where it can once again be recognised by the PNG community.
“Other possible approaches being considered include increasing employment of longer term health workers both skilled and semi-skilled and outsourcing some work to international labour markets to recruit international staff to fill short term capacity gaps.”
Kase said one way was to increase reliance on the use of automation and trans-technology for supporting delivery of health care services using computers for transmitting health information which the department was currently undertaking.
He said another area would be to increase focus on disease prevention and health promotion and increase the use of alternative approaches to health care service delivery.
“We are also looking at delaying retirement of older health workers retaining them for more flexible work arrangements like engaging them on a two to three day week kind of work until their fitness is no longer there or for them to share work with mature and fitter workers,” he said.
“As we move into the future, we see the need for new types of health workers who will be different from the ones of the past.
“We now see a need to grow a multi-disciplinary well-trained health worker force within the health facilities across the country who can promote the concept of whole person wellbeing across an individual’s lifespan with people in local communities.
“Other skills and qualities required include good computer skills and ability to interpret data, good inter-personal skills with a caring nature, effective time management skills, being able to understand the requirement for patient confidentiality and being able to deal with problems in a calm and effective manner.
“This is where we hope to be in the not too distant future and with the help of our development partners, churches, NGOs and private health care providers, the Government believes that it will effectively meet the challenges.”