Mendi hospital needs K8.9 million

MENDI General Hospital in Southern Highlands province needs the release of K8.9 million earmarked for general maintenance soon before the lives of patients, health workers and the public suffer, it has been revealed.
The delay in the release of the money has angered Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa when he visited the referral hospital last weekend.
He raised grave concern on the deteriorating state of the hospital infrastructure and called on the Health Minister Sasa Zibe to immediately intervene and rectify the serious health issues affecting human lives.
Mr Awesa said he had been briefed about the potentially catastrophic situation the hospital was in as a result of funds allocated for urgent maintenance of vital facilities being withdrawn by the National Government.
“We are dealing with people’s lives and the situation demands immediate and decisive action of the minister responsible to avert serious risk on people’s lives.”
The hospital’s chief executive officer Joseph Turian, yesterday confirmed this and warned that the outbreak of a major disease, like cholera, in Mendi would have catastrophic effect on the 360-bed hospital resulting in unnecessary loss of lives.
Mr Turian said redevelopment funds for Mendi General Hospital allocated in the 2006 and 2007 supplementary budgets were withdrawn by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring despite numerous correspondences and meetings with officers from the department.
He said Mr Zibe and MPs from the province had been made aware of the critical situation of the hospital.
Mr Turian said the funds, among others, were K5.6 million for hospital development, pending award of designing and documentation by the Central Supply and Tenders Board and K500,000 for upgrading the hospital’s bore water supply treatment system.
He said the 200,000-litre tank was shut two years ago due to leakage leaving only the 150,00-litre tank to serve the hospital.