Figures reported incorrect, says doctor

INFORMATION published in the past two weeks by the two daily newspapers regarding the cholera outbreak in the Sio area of the Tewae-Siassi district were incorrect.
This is according to the acting medical superintendent Dr Cain Kapiri of Etep Rural Hospital in the Wasu local level government.
Dr Kapiri stated that some of the information reported on the total number of deaths and admissions to Etep Rural Hospital including referral cases to Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae were untrue.
As the only medical officer working in Etep, which is run by the Evangelical Lutheran church of Papua New Guinea (ELCPNG), he has been serving the populace of Tewai-Siassi and Kabwum district.
Dr Kapiri said he was the first medical officer to detect the case, treat and make disaster plans to control the disease and notify authorities.
The total number of cases admitted to the hospital since the first case on July 25 through to Aug 30 is 32.
There have been 12 deaths; two who were patients and another two who were on their way to the hospital while eight died in the villages.
Dr Kapiri said the worst affected area was Sio village in Nambariwa with 15 cases admitted, followed by Lambutina with nine.
He said there was no referral from Etep Rural Hospital in Wasu to Angau and the information was misleading and not true.
More than 100 people have been treated with mild symptoms at the village by medical teams that were dispatched and oral rehydrating solutions have also been distributed.