Govt has let Ialibu Hospital down

Getting to hospital on time but dying due to lack of medicine, medical  equipment and specialists is indeed a national shame.
The two people who lost their lives at the Ialibu Hospital last weekend due to a car accident (The National, Nov 24) would perhaps not have died if the hospital had the basic medical equipment and specialists to immediately respond to such cases involving accidents and emergencies.
The Ialibu Hospital serves more than 250,000 people of Ialibu, Imbonggu, Pangia, Kagua and Erave districts.
Ialibu is the gateway to the petroleum-rich Southern Highlands province.
The Highlands Highway runs past Ialibu first before snaking its way through many lush valleys and mountains and into other districts in the province.
Ialibu Hospital has suffered and deteriorated over the years due to inadequate funding by responsible authorities in terms of infrastructure and resources, medicine, medical equipment and specialists.
Consequently, the people of the eastern end of SHP have been denied of a better healthcare system.
The SHP governor and our Prime Minister need to see that Ialibu is a strategic region because it is the gateway to the principal host province that will supply virtually all the US$16 billion PNG LNG project.
It would be a pity in the context of a national healthcare policy and a project security strategy for the LNG project if the Southern Highlands provincial government and our Government in Waigani think that Ialibu is not that important.
Public funds must be prudently and transparently managed and used for purposes and projects that will truly benefit the majority of PNG people.
The shameful situation of the Ialibu Hospital epitomises how deep-rooted white-collar crime and lack of visionary leadership have thwarted tangible and sustainable development in the country.
Pouring hundreds of millions in ghost MoA projects in SHP and on an expensive executive jet in the name of development and economic prosperity is a misguided development concept that by all facets lack visionary leadership and a truly credible, coherent and compatible national development plan.
I say it is a national shame for the injured to die in the run-down Ialibu Hospital that lacks medicine, medical equipment and specialists.

Cali Cullo
Ialibu