Health dept to submit budget

A PRELIMINARY budget submission by the Health Department to carry out full-scale surveillance and containment of influenza and dysentery outbreak in Menyamya and cholera outbreak in Tewai-Siassi is expected to be presented to the health minister today.
Deputy Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala,  who is in charge of setting up the Lae diseases outbreak control and command centre, told The National last night upon his return to Port Moresby that the entire medical relief exercise was estimated to cost the Government some K1 million.
Dr Dakulala visited several Wasu LLG villages yesterday.
He said he could not comment further on what urgent measures the Government would be taking but the department was advising the minister to declare disaster zones in the affected areas.
Dr Dakulala said reports on the situation on ground zero and to determine disaster zones had been sent to the minister earlier yesterday.
“We (senior executive management) will be meeting tonight to prepare a budget for surveillance and containment and awareness in the affected areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, medical teams from Port Moresby are expected to be in the disease-stricken areas of Menyamya and Tewai-Siassi today to assist provincial health authorities contain the spread of the deadly infections and set up health command posts.
Technical personnel from Health Department, World Health Organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières, National Disaster Centre, police and Defence will make up the teams.
Reports from the national surveillance control and command centre in Port Moresby reported nine people died from cholera in Wasu LLG while in Menyamya, the dysentery and influenza death toll was still at 177.