Gold mine continues support for district health services

DESPITE being in the care and maintenance mode, the Porgera gold mine in Enga, continues to support the district health services. This week, Paiam Hospital received rapid antigen test kits and accessories from the mine’s medical centre. The hospital’s acting medical superintendent and general surgeon Dr Jerry Hoga, accompanied by his staff, received the donation on Monday. The 1,000 kits and accessories, as well as associated medical personal protective equipment (PPEs), were delivered by the mine’s medical officer Dr Anna Lucci and the community and social responsibility manager Trevor Liversidge. Dr Hoga used the occasion to shed some light on what the hospital had been doing to date, since the first case of the Covid-19 was reported in the country. “The Covid-19 transmissible and can easily transmit from one person to another,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s a virus that is going to be here for a while, and we are going to have to learn to deal with it. “This donation is going to help us in a big way to manage our cases and to come up with the diagnosis.” The items donated were: surgical isolation gowns, latex examination gloves, face shields, surgical face masks, hand sanitisers, neonate-pediatric resuscitations packs, pediatric elongated oxygen masks, pediatric nebulising masks, pediatric aerosol masks, pediatric burettes, septrin suspension, flagyl suspension, Panadol suspension and a nebulising therapy machine. Liversidge said the necessary resources being used by the mine’s medical team to fight against the Covid-19, would also be used to assist the people in the community through the health establishments such as the district hospital. Dr Lucci stressed on co-operation between medical practitioners for a concerted effort toward the fight against the Covid-19.