Health authority eyed for Morobe

By JUNIOR UKAHA
MOROBE will soon have a provincial health authority (PHA) in place, says Minister for Health and HIV Sir Puka Temu.
He said this yesterday when he was in Lae to launch the polio immunisation programme for Morobe, Madang and Eastern Highlands.
Sir Puka said Morobe would have a PHA board in two months if everything went well.
“The (Morobe) governor has informed me that the provincial executive council (PEC) has made a decision to have PHA board in place,” Sir Puka said.
“This will come to me and I will take it to Cabinet.
“Me and the secretary will come and launch your PHA board, hopefully in the next two months.
“With that authority, I believe all the health issues in the province will be dealt with effectively.”
Sir Puka said that compared to the old system of health management in the provinces the PHA was effective.
He said the PHA would combine all health functions in the province.
There would be a central coordination point to ensure all health services and funding issues were addressed. Sir Puka said the PHA would have a chairman, board members and a chief executive.
He said once Morobe had the PHA board in place, health functional grants would be released to it.
Governor Ginson Saonu said he was looking forward to having the PHA set up.
He expressed concern that medicines were out of stock at the Angau Memorial Hospital and other health facilities in the province.
Saonu wanted this problem resolved quickly so people could have access to better health services.
“My PEC has already made a decision to have a PHA in place,” he said.
“I have to sign this decision and send it to the minister’s office to take it on from there.”