Singut: Hospital struggling

By GABRIEL FITO
THE number of patients receiving medical care and treatment at Wewak General Hospital (WGH) is rising as most of the district hospitals and rural health centres are not functioning properly, its acting chief executive officer Daniel Singut says.
“WGH is a referral hospital and should only be accepting referrals but that is not the case as it continues to see everyone, including those without passes.
“We have been lenient because we consider saving lives more important than being selective with patients who come for treatment everyday.
“The hospital is open 24 hours and those who are very sick at night and come for treatment are always assisted.
“Others who come during the day and emergency cases are also taken care of.
“No one has been turned away,” Singut said.
He said even though the hospital’s steriliser and x-ray machine were not working, it is struggling to cater for all its patients while slowly working towards improving services.
Singut said the district hospitals, health centres and clinics are no longer adequately providing health services needed by the people in their respective communities forcing them to go to WGH.
These smaller health institutions are managed by the provincial health office in Wewak while WGH is under the National Health Department.
Singut said the break down in service delivery at these health institutions was purely due to management problems which he hoped would improve so that workload would be reduced at the major hospital in Wewak.