Hospital forced to cut services

By GLENDA AWIKIAK and CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE Daru General Hospital in Western has scaled down its services indefinitely because it has no money and faces a drug shortage.
Chief executive officer Orpah Tugo said the hospital had not been receiving adequate operational grants on a timely basis.
“All our essential drugs and diagnostic equipment plus our X-Ray machine and tuberculosis (TB) laboratory are out of order and we cannot continue,” Tugo said.
“Other services and necessities like incinerator, sterilisers, masks and our mess and catering are affected as we have no money to sustain those services.”
The hospital receives a monthly operational grant of K300,000 for its essential services and about K150,000 for the multi-drugs response tuberculosis response programme. But that money has not being received this year.
“The need for our operational grant has accumulated over time and has affected every sector and area in the hospital and we don’t know what and how to do our work to help the patients. We have a backlog of matters to address at the hospital before it can be functional. Things have gone out of hand.
“Costs have built up and I would need about K1 million to get all these things in order and to re-open the services.”
Tugo said the hospital had 218 TB patients who needed to be managed them and to protect stbaff from contracting the disease.
“Already have three of my staff are infected with TB because the essential items to protect them have run out. This is a real threat,” she said.
Health Minister Sir Puka Temu said he was concerned about the shortage of medical supplies such as surgical masks and oxygen, and the non-functioning of X-ray machines at the hospital, despite the financial and infrastructure support it had received from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Global Fund and Ausaid.
“I’m surprised to hear that there basic supplies like masks are not available. Those are routine supplies that hospitals have access to. Because we have sufficient funds for addressing particularly TB and I’m disappointed that is the experience on the ground in Daru Hospital,” he said.
He promised to look into the issues.
“I will make it my commitment to check on the situation in Daru to make sure that drugs are made available and the other operational items like laboratory equipment, masks are available.”