K700,000 face-lift for Molot health centre

THE Molot health centre in Duke of York Islands in East New Britain, has undergone a major face-lift worth more than K700,000 after many years of neglect.
The health centre, located at the beach front on Molot, had been forced to provide only aid post services after most of its building deteriorated.
Most of patients were referred to the Watnabar health centre, also on the island, which is about 20-30 minutes by boat from Molot.
This became another burden for the people who had to fork out extra money for boat expenses.
With the successful completion of the refurbishment of the health centre’s buildings, the staff strength of seven officers can now resume providing health services as they did in the past.
Funding for refurbishment works was made possible from the Health Department with project management and supervision done by Gazelle Restoration Authority (GRA) at a contract price of K760,462.41 done by China Jiangsu International (PNG) Ltd.
Works commenced on Feb 15 and completed last mid last month.
GRA board member, Poe Apelis urged people and staff to take ownership and be responsible to conduct regular monitoring, repairs and maintenance works so as to sustain facilities for future generations.
Last Friday, he handed over the keys, completion certificate and maintenance manual which confirmed the successful completion of the project.