Hospital board member queries K10m promised fund

By ELIAS LARI
THE Mendi General Hospital is still waiting for the K10 million promised by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Finance Minister Don Polye.
A member of the hospital board said the promise was made three months  ago during their visit to the province.
The board member who asked not to be identified said they had no idea when the money would arrive.
He said the hospital management and board had already discussed and identified projects to be funded from the K10 million.
It includes the rebuilding of two 40-bed wards, the building of doctors’ houses, lifestyle disease clinic and patients’ focus clinics.
The board member said the money could already have been released by the Finance and Treasury Department but they had no idea where it went to.
The board has sent reminders to Health Minister Jamie Maxtone-Graham, Polye and O’Neill.
Polye replied saying he had directed the acting finance secretary on
Sept 7 to secure the funding and transfer it to the Southern Highlands provincial administration’s operation account.
Polye acknowledged in his letter that they had made the commitment during their visit in August.
The board member said they did not know whether the money had been released by the finance secretary.
He said if the money was already released to the province, they wanted to know why the provincial administration was sitting on it.