Sustainability of catheterisation lab crucial, doctor says

SUSTAINABILITY of the new catheterisation laboratory at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) is crucial, a doctor says.
Cardiothoracic surgeon and surgery coordinator Dr Noah Tapaua said the Government had built the laboratory which had filled an important gap.
“Now that we have built it we need to sustain it,” he said.
Tapaua said it required a team of specialists to run the unit; training of manpower was one of the challenges that they faced. He said PNG specialist doctors, nurses and health workers were able to deliver cardiac services over the last four years.
He said they had done 41 implantation of permanent pacemakers, 169 closed heart operations, 190 chest operations, 83 vascular operations.
“With the help of our international partners we have done 134 non-complex open heart surgeries,” Tapaua said.
“Training a complete heart team in a developing country is very difficult.”
He said, in order to continue effective specialist training, the Government had to intervene because the training partnership with Australia had slowed down over the years due to the various immigration laws that were imposed by both countries.
Another challenge, he said would be the affordability of the cardiac services by the people because it would not be free. He said the cost would vary depending on the complexity of the condition and would be relatively lower than having the treatment overseas.
Tapaua said according to the National Health Policy, Government would subsidise the tertiary specialist services provided by PMGH and the primary health care would be free.
However, Tapaua said they had yet to see the subsidy policy be implemented.
He said the operation open heart (OOH) programme was done yearly at a cost of K300,000, treating an average of 40 people for free.
Tapaua said the money was raised through fundraising drives, from donations by members of the community and the corporate body.
He said that was the same amount that would be spent by a patient to get cardiac surgery in Australia.
“That is the amount we need from the Government to run the operation free for the people,” he said.