Hospital work crawls, MP not happy

By REBECCA KUKU
THE Maprik General Hospital redevelopment work will be completed by October, says MP John Simon.
He told The National he was not pleased with the progress of the work.
Simon said progress was “very slow” and his people still needed to receive basic healthcare at the hospital.
“Initially, the completion date was set for last December, but now it has been moved to October,” he said. “It’s not fair on the people.
“We have managed to rehabilitate and maintain the maternity ward and general ward for people to access health service from.
“The work progress is very slow.
“They have not even completed phase one yet, and soon the Central Supply and Tenders Board will be tendering phase two of the project.”
Simon said the redevelopment project was valued at K55 million, but given funding was an issue, he was allocating K5 million per year from his district funds towards the project. He appealed to donor partners to work with him to have the hospital completed because it served not only the people of Maprik but also those from other districts.
“Even though people from Yangoru-Saussia, Wosera-Gawi, Ambunti-Dreikikir (East Sepik) and Nuku and Lumi (West Sepik) also access services at Maprik General Hospital, the hospital is being funded by Maprik’s DSIP (district services improvement programme) only,” Simon said.
“I call on donor partners, please visit our hospital, speak to the CEO, and work with us to complete the redevelopment of Maprik General Hospital.”