K200,000 approved for Wau Health Centre

BULOLO development authority has approved K200,000 to renovate the Wau Health Centre as a short-term measure, Wau-Bulolo mayor Willie Sine says.
“While the measure is being taken, we are working on getting the provincial designer to come up with a design for a new infrastructure to be built in the future at the centre,” he said.
He said the district settled the centre’s K5,000 power bill, put up four security lights and provided two security guards as promised in a recent meeting with the centre’s management.
“All we need now at the centre is funding to get the building renovated for the time being and let the people access the much-needed services while we look at a long-term approach to get the facility fixed,” Sine said.
Sine said Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu had promised to contribute K100,000 two weeks ago when Prime Minister James Marape visited the district.
“Our governor will be visiting Wau and Bulolo on July 9 and 10 and we are hopeful that the announcement he made to help fund the health centre will be honoured during the visit,” he said.
Officer-in charge Olivia Kola said the health centre was closed two months ago due to aging structure.
“The buildings were built during the colonial era and are deteriorating,” she said.
“They are unfit for occupation.”
Kola said two months of closure had seen curable diseases taking lives and mothers delivering babies exposed to risks.
“Despite the closure, we are still rolling out immunisation programmes for children aged one and below,” she said.