Kase: Killing to impact health care

Health secretary Pascoe Kase says the killing of an experienced doctor in Lae on Saturday is a massive setback for the country and repercussions will be widespread.
He told The National yesterday that the killing of long-serving paediatrician Dr Alphonse Rongap along the Malahang back road was a concern for the whole country.
“We are very much concerned, myself and the minister (Michael Malabag),” Kase said.
“Our country is critically short of doctors and nurses, and then you have a specialist like Dr Rongap, who was at his peak of delivering highly-specialised services to our nation, having his life taken away by criminals,” Kase said.
“It’s really unfair as our country will now miss out on someone who has had many years of training.”
“We should continue to benefit from his expertise, but now that he’s gone, we will have to wait for many years to replace that kind of specialist.
“We are very sad that his life was taken away and we are very much concerned.”
Kase said Dr Rongap was a very-humble person and a good leader who stood up for his colleagues.
He said Lae health department would now have to look for another suitable person to fill in for late Dr Rongap.
“We might even have to go abroad to look for that kind of person,” Kase said.
It is not easy to fit into this kind of role especially here in Papua New Guinea.
“It took him almost 30 years of hard work and commitment to get into that role.”
“Now the Lae health department will have to look for someone with that sort of skill to continue from where late Rongap left.
“If there’s someone, we’re lucky, if not we’ll have a very difficult time finding a replacement.”