Nursing students get medical books, aids

 STUDENTS attending the St Barnabas School of Nursing in Alotau have been given 80 new medical books and training aids.

The donation came from Oil Search Health Foundation through its maternal and child health (MCH) programme. They were handed over to Noreen Tabua, the principal of the School of Nursing by Penny O’Connor, the programme manager.

Tabua thanked the foundation for supporting the nursing students. 

“I had asked the MCH team for these items and they have really come good. I am over the moon,” she said.

The programme has been operating in Oil Search project areas of Southern Highlands and Gulf since 2009, assisting rural and remote health staff with coaching, mentoring and support.

In 2011, a World Bank report        – PNG Health Workforce Crisis: A Call to Action – urged the MCH programme team to investigate other ways to support the development of the PNG health workforce. A public-private partnership was established with the St Barnabas School of Nursing to help build capacity. Nurses will be trained with focus on the importance of primary health care.

Three computers were donated to the school.