Province at high risk: Governor

MADANG Governor Peter Yama says his province is at high risk of having the coronavirus entering it because of the lack of monitoring of ships from China coming to its ports.
Yama said people at Basamuk and Kurumbukari as well as the province were at risk as a result of the operations of the Ramu nickel mine.
“The MCC Basamuk port in Madang has direct shipping link to China, and Ramu nickel mine and the national government do not seem to appreciate the seriousness of this issue,” he said.
“In fact the Basamuk port in Madang has direct shipping with China and was not been checked.
“If the coronavirus is transmitted to my people in Basamuk and Kurumbukari by these Chinese workers, the people of Madang and the rest of the country are at risk.”
Yama said the national government was ill-prepared to protect the people from the virus.
He said the Ramu nickel mine at Basamuk and Kurumbukari also had a fly-in-fly-out arrangement and this also posed a risk for the province and the country.
Yama said he was also concerned that Madang’s Modilon General Hospital was not equipped in terms of specialists and resources to manage cases of the coronavirus.
He said the Government’s allocation of K10million to contain the coronavirus was inadequate and called for increased funding.