PNG at risk of repeating mistakes: MP

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says the country is at risk of falling back into a repeat of the mistakes made during the state of emergency, and failure to manage the Covid-19 pandemic as a health issue instead of a police matter.
He says more than at any time in the pandemic, the Government must be clear in its plans and share all relevant information with the public.
“I raise this alarm from a position of great concern for the potential loss of life in our communities,” he said.
“We are all in this together, and now is the time for real action, not empty talk and false hope or hiding from public scrutiny.
“Health professionals are crying out for government support, for more PPEs, for more testing, and for funding so that they can care for patients, but again all we are hearing about are police lockdowns.
“The Government must respond to serious matters of public concern that have been raised by the media, and detail any plans, if any, to properly protect our country from the further spread of the virus.
“When information is not made public, it only feeds rumours, fear and mass panic in the community, as we are seeing today.”
O’Neill said despite calls from around the country for the truth on all of the promised funding to fight the Covid-19, the Government kept information secret.
“Billions of kina have been raised through Covid loans, and hundreds of millions of kina gifted from international partners, but there is still no money for Port Moresby General Hospital Covid-19 operations,” he said.
“The situation is so bad that health workers are walking off the job out of fear for their own lives because they do not have personal protective equipment.
“Church health services have had their funding cut and health workers not paid at the very time when our people need this care and support.
“The Government talked about more than K1 billion being allocated for SMEs to survive, but they have not been given any real funding and keep being told that it is still coming.”