Hospital running short of medicines

By REBECCA KUKU
THE Port Moresby General Hospital’s emergency department is facing a shortage of basic medicines as the country conducts the counting for General Election 2022 (GE22) marred by violence and alleged fraud.
Acting emergency chief Dr Duncan Sengiromo told The National that the department had been facing a shortage of basic medicines for some time now.
“All the X-ray machines have malfunctioned and we are limited to doing chest X-rays only now,” he said.
“We are also unable to do basic blood tests at the laboratory and have issues with machines and reagents.”
This comes after reports were received by The National from patients who were told to buy medicines from private pharmacies and bring back to the emergency department for doctor’s to treat them.
One of the patients, who’s teenage daughter attempted suicide and was rushed to the emergency department was told to buy charcoal from the pharmacy for doctors to treat the daughter.
“I have a car and the money to purchase the medicine but I am raising this concern because I feel for those who may not be in a better position to go out and bring back the medicines needed to save their loved ones’ lives.”
Another patient, a 56-year-old man with asthma, was given a prescription to purchase salbutamol inhalers and tablets from the pharmacy.
He told The National that he simply could not afford to purchase them.