Govt must fund rural health services, says adviser

National, Normal
Source:

The National,Friday20January 2012

By PISAI GUMAR
A HEALTH adviser says the government needs to seriously consider the plight of health services in rural areas as compared to the urban centres.
Morobe provincial acting health programme adviser Dr Micah Yawing was commenting on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s allocation of K350 million to improve major hospitals and health services.
Six regional referral hospitals will receive K25 million each and provincial hospitals K10 million each.
He said the government needed to recognise how tough and critical it was to deliver health services in rural areas and then allocate equal funding between major hospitals and rural health centres.
 “Priority should be given to improve dilapidated and deteriorated rural health centres and aid posts that lack essential drugs and nursing accommodation and which cater for 85% of rural population without road accessibility,” Yawing said.
He said nursing staff risked their lives by using temporary karuka, kunai and sago thatched roof shelters.
 “Rural health centres and aid post should be allocated adequate funding to improve buildings, sections of disease control and medication, staff houses, increase drug stocks and procurement services,” Yawing said.
“Although we have health issues in urban areas there are severe medical needs in rural villages.
“In urban areas, we have enough existing facilities, drug supplies, equipment and staff while in rural areas, patients have to walk, climb mountains or paddle more than 10km to seek medical services.”
He said many of those colonial-built sub-health centres and aid posts no longer existed because of rundown facilities and inadequate drug supplies.
Provincial forest chairman and Wampar LLG president Peter Namus said urban hospitals had access to companies and donor funding to help them.
“Most urban patients seek medical assistance from private hospitals therefore it is wise for the government to reconsider its allocation,” Namus said.
“Most community health workers run away or hesitate to work in rural areas due to dilapidated facilities, no drugs, staff accommodation and inaccessibility to road to move the drugs.
“Facilities for rural aid posts must be improved and built less than 2km for patients to reach from home.”