Morobe health reforms

By GLORIA BAUAI
MOROBE Health Authority (MPHA) chief executive officer Dr Kipas Binga says a restructure will address the staff shortage of the redeveloped and expanded Angau Provincial General Hospital.
He said MPHA had advertised 400 positions last year, 200 of which were for Angau alone, while the other 200 for public health.
He said, however, this positions for Angau were existing ones from the old structure that didn’t include the current expanded services.
“Even if we fill all the existing positions, there will still be a shortage because the infrastructure is big and it demands a certain number of people.
“So for this redeveloped Angau, new positions will be catered for in a restructure.”
Binga said they have been working closely with the Health Department and the World Health Organisation to identify positions for this restructure through a workforce indicator data.
“Hopefully we get Department of Personnel Management to support us and if all goes well, we’ll start working on the restructure soon.
“Currently, emergency department is a big problem for us; we hope through the recruitment process, we should get some people in.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused; somethings are not planned for, it just happens.”
The National visited Angau children’s outpatient department (COPD) over the weekend, confirming one doctor, two nurses and two community health workers on duty for morning shift, also covering 16 inpatients. Staff said all urban clinics closed over the weekend caused strain on resources at the COPD.
Binga said of the 860 vacancies in MPHA, 660 is for public health space.
He said 400 positions were advertised last year and the recruitment process was currently underway; the remaining 460 to be advertised this year are solely for the public health space and should cater for the shortage at district facilities, allowing Angau to operate as a referral hospital.