Health staff participate in course on maternal care

NINE community health workers (CHW) in East New Britain and Namatanai, New Ireland, will undergo six months up-skills training in maternal and newborn care.
The launching for the training was held at the St Mary’s Vunapope Hospital Resource Centre in Kokopo on Monday.
The course will be held at St Mary’s as it would be coordinated and facilitated by the hospital’s obstetric team.
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Delly Babona said the course was to train participants on up-skilling in maternal and newborn care.
Babona said after completing the course, participants would know some basic skills on attending to mothers during delivery and assist with their newborns.
“We train the CHW officers so that when they finish from here they will be better equipped with skills to assist mothers during delivery, because in most cases there will be no doctors, midwives and nursing officers to assist them when it comes to mothers facing complications, they will be doing delivery as well as attending to mothers,” she said.
Babona said the country was struggling with high number of mothers who give birth at home with no skilled birth attendant.
She thanked Newcrest Mining Ltd for sponsoring the training with K81,000.00.
Meanwhile, Newcrest representative Tengana Polum said the company was happy to work in partnership with the Vunapope Hospital.
Polum said since 2017 Newcrest Mining had partnered with Kavieng Provincial Hospital and the New Ireland Provincial Health Authority to train community health workers in advanced maternity care skills.
She said through the sponsorship delivers the mine’s goal to help to improve the skills of PNG health workers. On behalf of Newcrest, she congratulated the hospital board and the administration.