Do medical checks, officers told

The National Main Stories

By JIMMY KALEBE
POLICEMEN and women have been urged to have regular medical check-ups in order to determine their fitness while engaging in policing services in different environments, a senior police officer says.
Head of the Northern Command and Assistant Police Commissioner (ACP) Peter Guinness, who spoke at the funeral of Morobe police commander the late Chief Supt Alex N’Drasal on Saturday, said many policemen and women continued to work despite having medical conditions and issues that needed treatment.
Chief Supt N’Drasal passed away on Dec 16, 2020, while ill.
He had been sick for some time.
“We may look healthy on the outside but internally, are we okay?” ACP Guinness said.
“To make sure our health status is okay, we must have proper and regular medical checks as we are accustomed to different situations and environments.”
ACP Guinness said with more people succumbing to lifestyle diseases, policemen and women needed to take their health seriously.
“There is a great need for all police personnel to change from unhealthy lifestyles and behaviour to healthy lifestyles.
“We must take our health seriously.”
ACP Guinness said police officers needed to act responsibly and take better care of their bodies.
He said prioritising one’s health would help in doing their jobs properly.
ACP Guinness appealed to all personnel to have regular medical check-ups to know their health status and seek treatment early for any illness or condition.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, administration (DCA), Joanne Clarkson said the Royal PNG Constabulary had lost many senior officers over the past few years due to health reasons.
She said all personnel needed to be fit and healthy in order to carry out their duties effectively.
DCP Clarkson said officers needed to monitor their health and ensure they sought treatment when needed.

5 comments

  • “LIFESTYLE” of Papua New Guineans have changed. Many productive and intelligent PNGeans have died and will die if we do not change. We have to change in with the mind sets and make good decisions in certain areas;
    1. Make right decisions to take the right food. (anything that we take into our mouth must be considered)
    2. Make good decisions to avoid violence, ( make decisions to create peace)
    3. RESPECT yourself, family, relatives, neighbours, community so that others can develop that from you.

    The EYES can catch anything, good or bad that attracts the mind to make decisions which may help us or destroy us. Good decisions helps us to stay safe while bad decisions destroys. Lifestyle diseases are eating up our human resources in the family, community, province and country. Your lifespan depends on your decisions.

  • While its good to ask individuals to change life styles and encourage them to take control of their health, the reality is that primary healthcare system in PNG in not accessible, unfriendly, unsympathetic and unemphatic. I think we need systemic and structural changes to improve access and utilization of primary healthcare services. This may have include redesigning the primary healthcare service delivery mechanisms and structures. Obviously the current structures and mechanism do not seem to fulfill their designed objectives. Government departments like the Police may also need to systemically look at structural and systemic issues within the department that are hindering the good health and well fare of the police and start making decisions to change systems and structures to enable police personal to have good health. For example, paid time to get healthcare checks, mandatory healthcare checks, protected financing to assist police go for healthcare checks and there are many more options. We will continue to see more PNGeans die premature deaths from diseases like heart attacks and high blood pressure for many more years to come if we do not take control of our systems and structures in government and public service.

    • You are right Rodney.
      It costs a fortune to have proper medical checks and care. Ordinary public servants including police officers cannot afford

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