PNG gets more help

Tests to resume locally as more medical supplies arrive

By LULU MARK and SAMUEL BARIASI
COVID-19 tests will resume at the Institute of Medical Research as the country continues to receive more much-needed medical supplies from donor nations and organisations.
Institute director Prof William Pomat said: “Reagents have arrived in the country and we should start testing today (yesterday). We have enough reagents to test up to 4,000 samples now and more reagents are on order for up to 21,000 tests.”
The institute ran out of reagents needed to conduct Covid-19 tests last month, resulting in all samples being sent across to Australia for testing.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory technique which the PNG institute uses, plus the GeneXpert technique for the Covid-19 testing.
Last week, the WHO gave 360 cartridges to the Central Public Health Laboratory for the Covid-19 test using the GeneXpert machine in the country.
Pomat said the 360 cartridges meant only 360 samples could be tested.
“There is not enough cartridges for the whole country so the PCR will be used to test possible cases of the Covid-19,” he said.
Also yesterday, about 11 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) arrived in Port Moresby from China. The medical supplies included face masks, gloves, protective suits and goggles.

Prime Minster James Marape said they were part of China’s donation of about 400,000 units of PPEs (45 tonnes) to PNG.
He thanked China and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) for ensuring that the PPEs reached PNG “to boost our preparedness for the Covid-19”.
He said another Unicef shipment would be arriving from Shangai.
Marape said 5,000 face masks and 2,000 protective suits would be given to the Solomon Islands. Foreign Affairs Minister Patrick Pruaitch told China’s Ambassador Xue Bing that “it is at times like this that you know who your true friends are”.
Ambassador Xue said as long as China, PNG and other countries worked together, “victory over the Covid-19 would be achieved”.
“At this difficult time of fighting the Covid-19, confidence and solidarity are more valuable than gold, while panic and blame-shifting are more dangerous than the virus itself,” he said.