St John may cut back operation

ST JOHN may scale down its operation due to lack of funding, says chairman Jean Kekedo.
She said it would continue to provide private and other services and respond only to serious emergencies as it had already dipped into every savings it had to ensure it provided much-needed emergency care to Papua New Guineans.
The Government is yet to release St John’s funding for this year, she said.
Kekedo expressed concern over the significant delay in the release of the operating grant.
St John provides emergency services for and on behalf of the Government, covering NCD, Central, East New Britain and starting in Morobe and Milne Bay. Kekedo said the St John council had been reaching out to the health minister and secretary and working with the Department of Health to release funds specifically for operating the ambulance service.
Due to the six-month delay in receiving the grant, the service is being faced with the possibility of having to reduce some emergency services to Central temporarily.
“We are an employer of some 200 people,” Kekedo said.
“These men and women are passionate about serving our communities with reliable and trusted care.
“There are around 70 team members dedicated to the public ambulance service in direct frontline roles on ambulances or in the coordination centres.
“They all contribute to ensuring public ambulance services to 1.8 million people.
“Unlike some public health service providers, our staff are not on Government payroll,” she said.
“We rely on funding from the Government to keep operating.”