Rural health services lacking, says MMJV

THE need for health services continues to be felt in many of the remote communities of Papua New Guinea, Morobe Mining Joint Venture (MMJV) said in a statement.
It said this was experienced again recently when a first-time father was faced with the likelihood of losing his wife after she developed complications following the
delivery of their first son in the village.
Josephine Barak gave birth two weeks ago with the help of Zenon Philip, a village birth attendant trained by the MMJV in one of its health programmes.
Philip had to travel some distance up the Watut River from her village of Malarina after receiving the call for assistance.
Soon after the delivery, the young mother developed pains and could not move.
The first-time mother from the Wawas village, in the Middle Watut area of Morobe, was discovered by a team of environment and community affairs officers from the Hidden Valley mine during a routine patrol of Watut River communities.
The team, using a satellite phone, communicated the emergency to the Wafi-Golpu project office.
Male nurse Timon Ifame was flown by helicopter to the village and attended to the patient.
After performing medical checks, he concluded the patient needed to go to Angau Memorial Hospital.
Josephine was evacuated by helicopter to Lae, accompanied by her husband, new-born son and Philip.
Josephine is one of the many local people from remote communities who has been assisted by MMJV operations at Hidden Valley mine, Wafi-Golpu project and
Regional Exploration.