K10mil for kidney centre

By COLIN BUNGEWA
THE National Fisheries Authority (NFA) has committed K10 million to support the establishment of a kidney centre at the Port Moresby General Hospital (POMGH) with the aim to have a facility in the country to address disorders of this organ.
Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Jelta Wong said this during the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the NFA and PMGH in Port Moresby yesterday.
The facility be known as the PMGH Kidney Centre.
Wong, a former Health Minister, said he was pleased to announce the commitment on the eve of Christmas. He said the agreement was part of an ongoing collaboration with the health sector.
Health Minister Dr Tom Lino said the signing would initiate work on a facility that would provide crucial treatment for an increasing number of patients with damaged and diseased kidneys.
He said kidney disease had taken the lives of many young and productive Papua New Guineans and the centre was needed to treat sufferers.
NFA managing director Justin Ilakini said the authority had a record of contributing to the health sector.
“We have been supporting hospitals, health centres and buying ambulances and we realised that instead of giving small bits, why don’t we contribute to something that is going to impact the lives of our people in the long term, so when we received the proposal from the CEO of PNGH, the board said this is it, we need to support this and create a kidney centre,” he said.