Overcrowding may lead to more health problems

The National National

By PETER WARI
OVERCROWDING at a care centre in Southern Highlands may lead to health problems if medicine and relief supplies are late, according to a medical team there.
More than 2000 people are living in three big tents at the Pimaga centre in the Nipa-Kutubu district of Southern Highlands.
Southern Highlands health authority chief executive Dr Joseph Birisi said people had been looking around for their own food until Saturday when Oil Search Ltd gave them biscuits.
The Australian Defence Force has brought medical supplies. Oil Search Limited supplied two bales of blankets, four cartons of mats, cartons of biscuits and bottles of water.
“A thorough village-by-village search is required to establish accurate data on the extent of the damage and the number of lives lost or people critically injured,” he said.
Birisi said some who were badly injured and could not walk would soon die of septicaemia of they did not receive treatment.
He said people at the centre could face starvation plus malnutrition among children if supplies reached them late.
“The risk of vector-borne diseases such as malaria cannot be avoided. Vaccine-preventable disease among the injured especially tetanus is also high,” he said.
The medical team recommended to:

  • Have a disaster response subcommittee to assess damage, get accurate facts and figures, organise relief in terms of food and medicine with the provincial team in Mendi;
  • have a helicopter based at the centre to do a thorough survey of nearby villages to ensure no critically injured people are unattended to;
  • have mosquito nets for every individuals above eight years old; and,
  • Provide fuel for electricity supply to the rural hospital and care centre, and for the ambulance service.