SHP politicians urged to aid hospital

By JAME APA GUMUNO
Southern Highlands MPs have been urged to chip in money to develop the Mendi General Hospital.
The hospital needs new wards to accommodate many in-patients seeking medication.
The hospital, now rated as a five-star hospital, was built during the colonial period to cater for only 200 in-patients at a time.
Chairman of Youth in Mendi town, John Mombulu Arikepo said the hospital served more than 700,000 people in the province and needed to be upgraded.
Mombulu said the influx of patients daily had seen the hospital running short of beds to accommodate the patients.
He said the 200 beds were not enough and a new ward was needed to increase the number of beds to at least 300.
Mombulu said it was the only provincial hospital serving the people of the eight districts in the province, including people from Kandep in Enga.
Mombulu, who claimed to speak on behalf of the hospital board and management, said it would be good if all MPs in the province came together and chipped in K500,000 each from their district service improvement programme funds to build new wards.
He appealed to the Southern Highlanders working and living overseas and in other parts of the country to help the hospital by contributing money for its refurbishment.
He thanked hospital chief executive officer Joseph Turian for doing a good job with his staff to get the five-star rating for the hospital.
Mombulu said Turian tried his best to use limited resources to renovate old buildings and buy new machines.
He said it would be better to support the initiative and further develop the hospital.