Pomio looking for hospital land

POMIO in East New Britain is looking for land to build a hospital following the allocation of K50 million for district hospitals.
Pomio MP Elias Kapavore accompanied health officials to Palmalmal to look at sites for the proposed district hospital.
“I would like to thank the government for allocating K50 million for the construction of district hospitals around the country,” he said.
Kapavore said it was a commitment in the Alotau Accord 2 that the government was focused on improving accessibility of doctors and coverage of quality healthcare in districts.
He said the funding was for feasibility work and construction of a district hospital.
He said the Health Department had standards in place and it was compulsory that everyone met those standards.
Kapavore said that for his district, many had lost their lives at sea having to travel to Kokopo and Rabaul for healthcare.
“If we, the people of Pomio, want a doctor to come to our district, we must build a level-four hospital,” he said.
Currently, Pomio has a rural district hospital at Palmalmal which operates as a health centre and doctors on their outreach programmes visit it from time to time.