Drug shortage may see health facilities close

By ELIAS LARI
HEALTH services in Western Highlands are likely to close their operations if they continue to face drug shortages, the management says.
The shortage is affecting 98 health facilities, including the Mt Hagen General Hospital.
Western Highlands health authority chief executive officer David Vorst confirmed that drug shortages were faced since last November.
He said in order to maintain the operations, the authority spent around K6,000 a day to buy medicines and medical consumables.
Vorst said supplying drugs was the sole responsibility of the Health Department.
He said the province had faced the problem since last year and it could not continue.
Vorst said the Western Highlands health authority faced similar problems in 2015 and 2016.
He said Mt Hagen Hospital was the second busiest in the country, after Port Moresby General Hospital.
Vorst said the hospital treated 30 per cent of the adults and 30 per cent of children from other Highlands provinces.
“This year, there was a budget cut of K76 million for health authorities throughout the country.”