Official advices govt to focus on prevention

THE cost of preventing the coronavirus disease, Covid-19, from entering the country would be less than the cost of actually dealing with it, an official says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative Dr Luo Dapeng said the potential cost of dealing with the virus would be big, not only in PNG but for other countries around the world as well.
Therefore, he said, the Government should prioritise the funding of the PNG emergency preparedness and response plan for Covid-19 to avoid greater economic cost.
He said the message was clear and that was for the Government to prioritise and fully fund the plan that was developed.
He stressed that the surveillance system should be in operation throughout the country.
The prevention message, Dapeng said, should reach all the communities so people knew how to protect themselves.
“All hospital facilities must be ready to take care of the patients,” he said.
“Our health workers should be well trained and well protected if the worst scenario comes to this country.
“It’s high time to for all sectors to work together and prepare response.”
Acting Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala said it was no longer a statement of “if Covid-19 comes to PNG” but one of “when coronavirus comes to PNG”.
He said with a case of Covid-19 reported in French-Polynesia (Tahiti), a Pacific island country, it was inevitable that it would come to PNG.
He said neighbouring countries such as Australia and Indonesia had cases and “we are well aware that it could come into our country”.
“It is not something that we are naïve about,” Dakulala said.
“Therefore we were handling our response and things and working towards dealing with the case when it comes.”
Dakulala said the Government approved a K45 million budget of which K10 million was to be released immediately and the department was working with an internal funding of K3.3 million.