Doctor: Teenagers are regular admissions at Hagen hospital

TEENAGERS as young as sixteen years old were a regular admission group at the Mt Hagen General Hospital (MHGH) accidents and emergency department.
According to the Hospital’s director Dr Michael Dokup, most of them, ranging from 16 to 50 years old,  made up the statistics of 800-850 admissions at the accidents and emergency department.
He explained that the number of admissions increased every year during the coffee festival and festive season.
This puts a lot of pressure on manpower and resources in the hospital, adding that it was costly for both the patient and the hospital.
He said it costs K2,000-K15,000 per person to be treated and that was a costly exercise for the hospital depending on the number of days,  and that could be from 7-30 days.
“The actual hospital acquired costs of consumables and resources are K425 per week, including meals, and if the patient had to stay for five days it costs K2,125.”
“MHGH is the only referral hospital for the Highlands region with a mobile population of two and a half million and we strive to be a “centre of excellence” on cases of trauma and HIV/AIDS,”  he said.
He revealed from January to June last year 5,000 deaths were recorded.
From the statistics, he said, that the eight causes of their death were due to: motor vehicle accidents (drivers, passengers and pedestrians), fights (brawl, tribal and ethnic), gender violence (women, girls and old age), substance abuse (drugs, marijuana), sex crimes and morgue admissions (dead on arrivals).
Dokup said a few problem areas the hospital was facing that needed review were admission register books had to be reviewed to include the cause of admission and there were no data comparison procedures existing between the hospital and police record system to indicate the cases that are on record or reported.
Unfortunately, other doctors from regional hospitals, Nonga Base Hospital in Rabaul and Dr Songli Soctine from Angau Memorial in Lae, could not present papers at the symposium due to work commitments.