Funding cuts affecting church health services, says official

By ANGELA PAUL
SOME church health service centres are facing problems because of the cuts in their funding, an official says.
Representatives of the centres around the country are attending their annual conference in Port Moresby.
The church health service secretariat manages all church-run health facilities and training schools in the country.
Chairman of church health service board Japalis Kaiok said cuts in funding were affecting their operations.
“Most of us are experiencing issues with keeping the students and training going. Shortages in funds might affect the training programmes for this year,” he said.
He, however, thanked the Minister for Health and HIV-AIDS Sir Puka Temu for supporting the church health services.
“We thank the government for the continuous recognition of the Christian training institutions and church health funding,” Kaiok said.
The four-day programme is focusing on the theme of “Immediate challenges of delivering
health services to the rural majority”.
The programme is be about addressing the issues
affecting church health services and schools and the challenges faced by the workers in
isolated rural communities.
Sir Puka said the government was prioritising health systems to meet the issues.
“Our priority area is health and health systems, and we will be putting funds for all health programmes whether run by the government or a church,” he said.