Gear worth K1.6mil helps hospital upgrade to level 4

BRAUN Memorial Hospital in Finschhafen, Morobe, has been upgraded to a level four hospital by the Health Department after the Australian government equipped it with gear worth K1.6 million.
Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Jelta Wong made the announcement in Finschhafen during the launching of a K67 million power project on Tuesday.
He said the level three hospital had been converted and upgraded according to services and equipment the facility has to provide health services.
Wong said the department had approved a health facility to be built in the hospital area to support services provided at the new level.
He said the facility was to provide basic and general health services for the district and other nearby districts so that long queues and delays at the Angau Hospital would be relieved. Angau is to be used as a referral hospital where specialists are to be based.
Local MP Rainbo Paita said the K1.6 million was used to buy equipment, such as X-ray machines, for the hospital.
He said the funding was also used to upgrade some facilities in the hospital.
Australian High Commissioner to PNG Jon Philp said Braun Hospital was the 10th vaccination centre in Morobe to roll out the vaccination programme.
According to the hospital administration, 56 people had received the vaccine.