Officers call for one aid post per year

By PHILMA SENGI
MEDICAL officers from the Morobe Provincial Health Authority want an aid post built each year in one of the districts in response to recent closure of clinics.
Numerous clinics, particularly in rural areas, were shut down over the last three years as the provincial government struggled for funds, staff, equipment and medicine.
However, a week-long workshop in Lae to present medical data for last year and this year passed a resolution to build an aid post each year.
The workshop was hosted by the health authority.
Team members from the Angau Memorial General Hospital and officers in different disciplines such as surgery, medical, emergency, theatre, family health and others were present.
Health authority chief executive officer Kipas Banga said all the officers in-charge of the programmes were there to present their data and to address challenges and data collected from the people.
He said it’s a review meeting so they just reviewed their resources in the districts, what’s working and what’s not and how to come up with their targeted outcome for last year and this year’s first quarter.
Banga told The National that the health authority partnered several national and international organisations such as Care International, Flores, World Health Organisation and PNG Women’s Health Association.
Medical officers at the workshop were urged to use proper report templates for different departments and prepare and submit them on time for review.
After the meeting, resolutions were made in response to the issues and policies.
One of the resolutions made in response to the closure of clinics was for MoPHA to build aid posts per year per district with the help of their District Development Authority.
For health facilities that do not capture referral data, MoPHA will develop referral register and have them distributed to all facilities in the districts.
The health authority 2024 budget was also included in the meeting.