Island hospital short of antiretroviral drugs

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday February 11th, 2016

 THE Gaubin Hospital on Karkar Island in Madang has been facing a shortage of antiretroviral (ART) drugs in the past three months, a health officer says.

Health Department director Dr Markus Kachau told The National he was only told of the problem last week.

He said HIV/AIDS patients relied on the drugs.

“I was not informed by the hospital management. Just last week, I was told by the doctor treating those patients based at the Modilon hospital,” Kachau said.

“The medicine supplies are here. We have them at the Modilon Hospital but no one had informed us about the situation on Karkar Island.”

He said they had tried to deliver some supplies to the island last week but bad weather conditions prevented them from travelling.

The doctor responsible for treating HIV patients is attending a meeting in Port Moresby and will return this week to take the drugs to Karkar Island.

“She is a specially trained doctor, who is able to assess these patients and prescribe their drugs. So we have to wait for her to return and deliver them herself,” Kachau said.

“We have to make it our business to visit the island regularly,” he said.