Free health care services soon

 By ELIZABETH MIAE

THE Free Primary Health Care and Subsidised Specialists Services Policy will become effective on Feb 24. 

The policy was announced in Port Moresby last December by Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Michael Malabag.

The government had allocated K20 million towards the implementation of the policy of which:

• K6.1 million will go to the provinces for government-run health facilities; and,
• K13.9 million to the Health Department under Division 241, Hospital Management Services and is further broken down to K9 million for public hospitals and K4.9 million for Christian health services’ facilities. 

The implementation of the policy will be in two phases in the following areas:

• Phase one involves the implementation at levels 1 to 4, which are rural health facilities (aid posts, sub-health centres, health centres, community health posts) run by both church and government; and,
• Phase two involves the implementation of the policy at the public or provincial hospitals, which are levels 5 to 7 health facilities including provincial and referral hospitals.

The policy was one of the priorities of the health sector that Health Secretary Pascoe Kase presented at the Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby on Tuesday. 

In his presentation he touched on the potential implications on health services nationwide when the policy comes into effect. 

“Free Primary Health Care and Subsidised Specialist Services Policy have been announced and the Health Department has already amended the current Public Hospital Charges Regulation and the Dental Charges Regulation to cater for that policy,” Kase said.

He said specialist services were expensive and that was where it would become subsidised. 

“This would have a very big implication on budgets for the hospitals. They’ve been using the money generated from internal user-pay fees to help run their operations.

“Now that the fees will be reduced in half, they will have some difficulties. The K20 million the government gave to the Health Department has already been distributed.”

Kase said funding was available but the challenge was with the provincial governments. 

He said for the rural health services, the money had been sent to the provincial treasuries and should be paid to all health facilities to deliver health services free of charge. 

“The date has been set for the last week of February for the law to become effective,” Kase said.