Kapavore: Review Act – The National

**Dr Thomas Johns receiving his Diploma in Child Health from UPNG Chancellor Robert Igara during the university’s 66th graduation ceremony in Port Moresby last week.**

By GYNNIE KERO
SHADOW Health Minister Elias Kapavore says the Medial Registration Act (1980) needs to be amended to cater for Papua New Guinea’s increased health challenges and demands.
He said the Medical Registration Act of 1980 was outdated and needed to be reviewed and amended to cater for the increasing health challenges and current trends.
“Section 24 of the Medical Registration Act sets minimum qualification on provisional registration for a medical practitioner and must only be attained at the UPNG or any other university or institute outside of the country approved by the Medical Board,” Kapavore said.
“This means, medical students graduating from other universities in the country won’t be registered to practice until this section is amended.”
He said given the country’s population growth increasing rate of three per cent per year, there was a need to train and recruit more health workers.
The national health workforce for government-run health facilities consists of 17,878 positions, of which only 9,985 or 56 per cent are occupied.
“The population is increasing by three per cent per year,” Kapavore said.
“In real terms this means that PNG’s population of around 9.5 million, will be in excess of 20 million in 25 years (2041) when many of the current graduands will be well into their careers.
“It means that within 10 years or so Port Moresby will be a city of perhaps 1.5 million people and the provincial towns and cities will have a population double what it is at present. This rapid growth rate is the county’s biggest health problem,” he said.
Kapavore stressed that the University of Papua New Guinea’s (UPNG) School of Medicine and Health Sciences could not produce enough medical graduates to meet the total health workforce requirements of the country.
He said other health training institutions including the Divine World University had an important role to play.
“There are proposals to establish new medical schools in various parts of the country. But building infrastructure is perhaps the easiest part.
“Attracting and retaining high quality staff is more difficult. Designing an appropriate syllabus and curriculum for the changing PNG context is vital – and having the appropriate student intake is crucial.
“The need for a HR (human resource) plan that includes a strategy for increasing graduates from 900 per year to around 3,000 graduates per year by 2030.
“This plan must advocate for the increase in training positions and placements especially for those undergoing residencies.
“School of Medicine and Health Sciences is dependent on the Port Moresby General Hospital which has long been regarded as an integral partner with the school in providing the patients and the facilities for clinical teaching.”