Health system stretched

By LULU MARK
THE Coronavirus (Covid-19) surge is stretching the country’s health system, “something that we thought would never happen in our country”, says Health Minister Jelta Wong.
“We are pushing our health system to the limit,” Wong said.
“We’ve had a lot of deaths.
“Six months ago, we became complacent thinking that it will never come here.
“(So) we were our own worst enemies.
“We became complacent.”
He blamed “misinformation on social media” about vaccination for the hesitancy by many to get the vaccines.
Wong said people were now starting to see the effects of the Covid-19 and what the Delta variant was doing in Goroka, Mt Hagen and Western.
“They are starting to see that this Delta strain is a killer,” he said.
“It kills our people.
“Once we start treating people, it takes two weeks to get answers.
“There is no cure we can rely on.
“There is no medicine so we rely on isolation – people being separated from people so the virus doesn’t move.
“We also rely very heavily on people getting vaccinated.”
He said the Government response was slow but “we are getting there. (Stopping it) doesn’t happen overnight”.
Wong said it was very pleasing to see that the number of people getting vaccinated had quadrupled.
He urged the people to get the vaccine to stop the surge.
Meanwhile, at the Port Moresby General Hospital yesterday, two more Covid-19 deaths were recorded.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said 145 people were admitted – 114 at the hospital and 31 at the Nightingale Taurama Aquatic Centre.
He said five of them were critically ill, 30 severely ill and 70 were moderate cases.