Minister wants health centres fixed for workers

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MEDICAL officers will only be brought into districts where there is proper infrastructure for them to work in, Health and HIV/AIDs Minister Elias Kapavore says.
Kapavore told The National that currently some of the health centres did not meet health services standards.
He said with the signing of additional funding grant from the Australian government of K128 millions it would enable seven health centres to be constructed under the rural health infrastructure project.
Kapavore said the infrastructure was mainly for upgrading district hospitals because they had a different group of health workers.
“We need to have properly trained medical officers and other health workers in the districts in a good environment compliant to health standards so we can start dealing with many of the health challenges at the district level,” Kapavore said.
“That’s level three of health facilities and the funding will also be used to construct three district hospitals.
“This is a significant arrangement for the funding towards the rural health infrastructure project.
“At the moment, some of the health centres operate as aid posts and health sub-centres while some of the district hospitals are operating as health centres.
“If we are to construct these facilities then we will be able to bring in medical officers to the districts,” Kapavore said.
Asian Developement Bank country director David Hill said it was a grant from the Australian government US$38m (K128m) additional financing to ADB’s own money for the health sector to expand the number of community health posts as well as scaling up to district hospitals.
He said there were two lots of grants US$38m from Australian government while the US$1m (K3.3m) was from China for a water supply project at Tete settlement, Port Moresby.
Treasury Minister Sam Basil said the grants came at the right time when the country was faced with financial difficulty.
“We will continue to support such grants which will improve the lives of people in the rural areas,” Basil said.