Statement offending

WE, the physicians and pediatricians of this country, take offence at the statement made by Bryan Kramer concerning the Covid-19 in The National on April 9.
We applaud the current work he is doing with the Government.
But he needs to be more sensitive in making certain statements especially in the area of medical field.
A blank statement without qualification like “PNG does not have a coronavirus expert” is undermining physicians and pediatricians of the country who are experts in their own field and can manage the coronavirus adequately provided they are given necessary support and resources.
We have competent physicians and pediatricians trained both locally and overseas who are more than qualified to deal and manage Covid-19 clinically when it comes in PNG.
Which expert is he referring to? Currently there is no expert in the world concerning management of Covid-19.
All the physicians and pediatricians (and anesthetists) in the world are learning as they go along, just like in the early days of the HIV infection.
The more patients you have the more experience you gather.
As in other common cold viral illness, like the rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, para influenza virus, adenovirus and the list goes, the coronavirus has been described in “Harrisons Internal Medicine”.
Text book and other medical text books give rise to only a minor upper respiratory tract infection lasting not more than two to three days at the most.
It may be complicated by developing a pneumonia but hardly ever death occurs in common cold settings.
This coronavirus appears to be a mutant of the original coronavirus and thus is behaving differently aggressively and causing fatalities.
Further, it last up to 14 days in the body instead of the usual two to three days.
It is also very contagious.
We don’t want to cloud public health issues like washing hands for more than 20 seconds, social distancing to prevent the spread of the disease and other measures as alluded to by the affected countries including the World Health Organisation.
Provide PPE and a proper isolation unit and all the necessary logistics and support and I am sure the clinical physicians and pediatrician doctors of PNG and with the help of the nurses can rise up to the challenge and manage this illness until treatment and vaccinations are available in about 18 months’ time.

Dr Banare Bun,
Physician Lae