Six new doctors for Mendi

SIX new doctors, including a paediatrician, will take up post at the Mendi General Hospital in Southern Highlands.
The arrival of doctors there had been delayed since last year due to the shortage in housing but hospital chief executive officer Joseph Turian said yesterday the homes were nearly completed.
He said a double-storey duplex had been completed while two others were almost completed.
The houses were being built at a cost of K1.7 million through the Mendi electoral funding programme, which was also implementing funding for other developments at the hospital.
Turian said the hospital’s eye clinic, which was yet to be officially opened, had specialist Dr Annie Kilepak already seeing patients.
He said the hospital’s maternity wing was being upgraded at a cost of K350,000 and would be ready in three months.
He said the new look maternity ward would have five delivery switches to cater for the increasing number of births at the hospital.
Turian said ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists from Goroka, Eastern Highlands, and Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, would be visiting the hospital.
He said they would arrive on Sunday and scheduled to see 40 patients until Wednesday.
After gaining a five-star status and having encountered  various other challenges, the hospital had continued to step up services to cater for the ever increasing health demands in the province, particularly from some of its remotest areas.
Turian said staff morale had been boosted with the presentation of new uniforms as well as the commissioning of a generator.