Teach people healthy diets

A WELL-KNOWN American wrote: “I have argued for years that we do not have a healthcare system in America, we have a disease-management system – one that depends on ruinously expensive drugs and surgeries that treat health conditions after they manifest rather than giving our citizens simple diet, lifestyle and therapeutic tools to keep them healthy.”
In Papua New Guinea, we are caught up in this situation where we are spending money on expensive drugs.
Prof Isi Kevau said lifestyle diseases were super expensive to treat.
“When one comes with a heart attack, we have to give medication and the first dose we give to stabilise costs K42,000,” he said.
The Health Department is too busy to address this problem.
There are no structures to address this situation as the department is dependent on very expensive drugs and surgeries to treat illnesses.
They are not set up to give our citizens a simple diet based on Papua New Guinea vegetables and fish.
No advice is given on lifestyle and how to lead a healthy life.
The medical faculty does not teach students about how food affects our health.
Our health education programmes do not look into how different foods can help people maintain good health and freedom from disease.
The universities can and must begin courses on food science and technology.
The latest discoveries in how foods, especially certain vegetables, can improve our health must be taught in our universities and colleges.
The graduates should be employed by the Health Department and hospitals so that they bring about massive savings in health expenditure and improve the well-being of our people.
Focus on diet.

Ajit Muttu