PNG, Indonesia plan science, health deal

The National National

WORK is underway for Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to sign an agreement for collaboration in the area of medical science and health-related programmes.
Despite sharing a common border, there is no technical agreement between the two countries.
A draft technical memorandum of understanding was discussed at a recent meeting in Jayapura.
The meeting was attended by Health Secretary Pascoe Kase and five members of the PNG team, including Dr Goa Tau, executive manager, medical standards; Ken Wai, executive manager, strategic policy division; and two officers from the Department of Health public health division. The chairman of the West Sepik health authority also attended.
The Indonesian team was led by Dr Anung Sugihantono, the director-general Disease Prevention and Control, of the Ministry of Health. He was supported by 31 officials from Health Indonesia and three officials from the World Health Organisation office in Jakarta.
The meeting went through the draft memorandum of understanding that was initially exchanged between Port Moresby and Jakarta.
The main objectives agreed in the draft agreement were to promote mutual cooperation in the common interest areas of:

  • Public health;
  • development and empowerment of human resources for health;
  • pharmaceutical and medical devices;
  • disease control and prevention; and,
  • Development and strengthening of health services

The PNG team was also taken on tour of a few health facilities in Jayapura. Kase said PNG had a lot to learn from Indonesia which had a population of 280 million and yet it was able to sustain and provide for its citizens.
“There is so much we can learn from each other to improve the health of our people,” he said.
“More of such meetings should be conducted in the future to strengthen this relation between the two closest neighbours.”
Both teams agreed that there was a need to cement the discussions and further actions along the border through a technical cooperation agreement.
PNG’s Health Minister Sir Puka Temu and his Indonesian counterpart endorsed the technical cooperation agreement which would be signed at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 27-28.