Doctor slams delay in funding for St John

By Rebecca KUKU
EMERGENCY services such as that provided by St John Ambulance save lives, a health department official says.
Chief of Emergency Medicine Dr Sam Yockopua has condemned the delay in funding from the Central provincial government which has forced the St John board to cut back its services to the province.
Yockopua, also the National Doctors’ Association secretary, said coordinated pre-hospital care which the ambulance service provided was important in saving lives.
“It is disappointing that the Central government still hasn’t signed an agreement with St John Ambulance to properly fund the vital work it does in the province,” he said.
“We really need to grasp the current health situation in the country and the role emergency services play in saving lives. Without dispute, St John Ambulance has always been the first responders to emergencies.
“There is no other ambulance service in Papua New Guinea that provides quality lifesaving emergency medical care and ambulance services without a fee, to the most critical emergency patients to save lives and limbs.” He said the medical help administered by a paramedic or emergency medical technician at the scene of an emergency was crucial in stabilising a patient before reaching the emergency room at the hospital. He said he had seen “far too many patients from Central unable to reach the general hospital in time to save their lives”.
He said there was no provincial hospital in Central, therefore funds should be made available to quickly move the seriously ill and injured to the Port Moresby General Hospital.
“If St John Ambulance can’t help these people in Central province who will answer their call for help?”