Government expecting recommendations from medical symposium

THE Government is expecting a clear set of recommendations from the 55th Medical symposium so that it can put in place workable strategies amidst resource constraints, Prime Minister James Marape, pictured, says.
When addressing international and national health professionals that gathered for the official opening of the annual symposium in Port Moresby yesterday, the prime minister said the strategies would capture the core priorities based on the needs of the communities.
Marape said evidence and statistics were needed in all sectors of policy interventions, therefore, the greatest contribution the Medical Society of PNG could make was through the submission of retrospective data with a clear road map on how the state could make the health sector work better.
He said much of the existing health infrastructure were remnants from the post-Independence era and change was necessary.
Marape said the country’s economic base was not sufficient to adequately fund all the needs of the country.
He said over the last seven years, recurrent expenditure costs (salaries, wages, overheads and dispensable items) consumed more than 70 per cent of the country’s available resources.
With the remaining 30 per cent, he said some went to paying loans inherited overtime, with around 10 or 15 per cent left for the development budget hence many of the core priority areas ended up being funded to a lesser capacity.
Marape said it was important to come up with solutions to alleviate the health challenges of a population that was growing at three per cent per year.
He said the health sector would need to advise Government on how best to proceed in the delivery and improvement of health services.
Marape said the vision of PNG being the richest black Christian nation on the planet had nothing to do with race, religion or actually becoming rich with money.
“It is all about reaching a destination where our citizens have fullness of life, meaning they are healthy, well off, economically independent and able to choose between private healthcare and public health care,” he said.
Marape said they were in the business of expanding the economic base of PNG in order to be able to find enough resources to invest in key sectors like health and education.
He said he was looking forward to receiving the recommendations from the symposium.