Remote community receives health support

ESSENTIAL healthcare is again starting to reach one of the most remote regions in Western, thanks to an initiative servicing the vast Lake Murray area of Middle Fly.
Part of this began with an intensive collaborative patrol conducted earlier in the year by Middle Fly health services, YWAM Medical Ships – Australia and PNG (YWAM MS), The Leprosy Mission and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).
The provincial health office and South Fly health services also assisted with logistical support.
The patrol parties combined their personnel and resources to deliver immunisation, family planning, dental care, health education and leprosy screening to almost 2,000 patients in 15 villages over 11 days.
Middle Fly health manager Kimsy Waiwa said the patrol was a fantastic team effort.
“Lake Murray is one of the most under-serviced regions in our province, partly due to its isolation and logistical challenges when it comes to delivering healthcare,” he said.
“We called on the help of our partners to work with us to make the patrol possible.
“The combination of everyone’s strengths helped achieve a great result. We are motivated to make sure this is the start of more patrols to the region.”
Waiwa said the team found that the demand for services in the area was greater than they had anticipated.
He said as a result of the visit, a local contractor had been engaged to undertake essential upkeep of the Boboa health centre, helping to serve the area.
One of the challenges identified in Lake Murray was leprosy.
Each patient diagnosed was started on treatment and registered with the local health centre.