Orokolo pride rotting away

By LARRY ANDREW
What was known as Orokolo Hospital in the Ihu Local Level Government of Gulf has lost the beauty of the services it used to provide to the people of the area.
The facility serves around 16,000 Orokolo and Popo people from seven council wards.
It has now been downgraded to sub health centre status. In its better days, it stood as an icon to the men and women of late 1960s, 70s, 80s and early 90s but today when you set foot at the health centre there is overgrown grass and rundown buildings. Even a new ward building funded under the former MP remains unused.
People cannot use the new ward as termites had chewed away the timbers making it unsafe. This reporter observed the plight of the health facility staff when he took his child there for medication recently.
It is an institution run by the United Church of Papua New Guinea and also receives funding from the Government for its operations. Government funds are released to the Churches Medical Council and from there the funds are disbursed to church-run health agencies throughout PNG.
The Orokolo health centre, built in 1964 is almost 54 years old. It still provides health services to the people in the LLG and the health centre collaborates with the Government to bring health services down to the people in the wards. The United Church headquarters oversees the operations of the church health facilities throughout the country.
According to the church structure communication the link to provide services to the people is from the churches health secretary right down to the officers in charge at the health facilities. The OICs submit their reports to church medical services headquarters. However, apart from the church the health centre also receives support from the Government in funding, training and other assistance.
Despite problems faced at the sub health centre the staff continued to provide services to the locals. One of their main concerns is the financial constraints which mean that sometimes staff are not paid their regular salaries. Yet they have been humbly providing the much-needed services without complaining.
The other problems in the generally operations of the health facility, coupled with their own pay issues are enough to driver them away from their work but they have kept quiet and served the people as they understand how desperately the locals need their help.
Even to this day one cannot hear the health workers complaining of their struggles and hardships but there are possibly silent tears that fall without being seen as these dedicated health works put the people’s lives before their own welfare and comfort.
“We have situations, situations that make us to walk out but we keep our patience,” OIC Edeck Koau says.
“Nobody hears our complaints, nobody hears our cries, nobody knows what burdens we face yet we maintain our support to continue work with the problems surrounding us.
“We serve because God is always there to provide so in God we trust. That is why we maintain our standard to continue work,” Koau continues.
Emergency cases poses a daunting challenge to the loyal health workers at the health centre as there are no faster or cheaper means of transport out of Orokolo other than travelling by dinghy which is a very expensive way to refer a patient.
And whatever little funding the centre receives the officer in-charge with the staff try their best to spread it over their many needs, however in the long run, funds do not get in on time for centre’s operations.
There is an administration with its functions to attend to the agency’s problem but in reality the presence of the administration cannot be felt physically.
The centre receives funds for a little while but most times operates without any funding which is an everyday problem that cannot go away and the physical evidence is there in the buildings falling apart – broken fly wire, leaking roofs, no beds and no good storage areas for medicines, and the list goes on.
The facility is run down and must be condemned as it is not fit for people to receive treatment there.
The health centre which caters for the sick in Orokolo and Popo is dying itself.
But for the dedicated health workers the people’s need for health services is paramount and they must labour on.