Support needed to improve health system

ACCESSIBLE and affordable healthcare is a basic fundamental right for all citizens.
Health Minister Elias Kapavore has admitted that the health system has not been able to achieve this in some aspects.
And he is making it a priority to realign the system to achieve the intended purposes.
Kapavore noted that there is an influx of private clinics who have taken advantages of the fragmented public health systems.
And he does not shy away to admit “we have failed our citizens. Not necessarily due to lack of funds but to some extend; poor/ indecisive leadership, management, monitoring & compliance”.
He is a strong believer in strengthening and improving our public health performance.
In Port Moresby, there is a need to have properly functioning provincial hospital at Gerehu with three NCD district hospitals.
Kapavore has put all health senior management team on notice to ensure realistic and practical reviews are now done in the current national health plan 2010-20.
Time after time we see citizens fall to preventable illness or medical procedures and process.
Fingers most times would then pointing to the hospitals’ ill-equipped state.
We argue and debate that we have all the money in the world to make available world-class hospitals yet why can’t we have the best hospital care system?
When we do try to upgrade our facilities, we are faced with roadblocks such as uncompleted projects, budget overruns and the lot that derails the project completion. All those are part and partial elements of delivering what is lacking in our major referral hospitals in the country, which are inundated with maladministration, and mismanagement by the respective hospital boards, lack of motivation, care, pride and under resource of health workers and most of all a quality health care system.
We need to put aside personal opinion difference of how to fix loop holes in our primary healthcare system and at the same time seriously and commit to entry and pushing secondary health to a new level.
Yes, there are still problems today in our primary health care system, which one cannot deny.
But to get to the secondary level of health care which focus on maintain a quality healthcare system, we need to start fixing the management red tapes to delivery primary health care system properly and at the same time kick-start secondary health care systems.
Some may argue focus and clean-up primary healthcare systems first, but there is no reason why we cannot also kick-start building on secondary health.
And for that to happen we will need to have a strong, committed and visionary leadership in a new hospital authority who will drive without fear or favour to ensure the government’s desire and objective for our quality healthcare system because a reality.
With a background in health, Kapavore is no stranger to the ministry.
He was the chief executive officer of the Vanimo Hospital and the West Sepik health authority prior to entering politics.
Under Kapavore’s adminsitration, Vanimo hospital became the first in the country to undertake four consecutive accreditations under the PNG health care standards.
It has a five-star rating with a rating of 96.5 per cent.
That means the hospital met all recommendations in the third survey and was acknowledge as a fine example of a health care facility that promotes the PNG health care standards.
Let’s all support Minister Kapavore for a bigger better improved health care for PNG.