Three provinces to have health authorities

 SOUTHERN Highlands, Hela and Jiwaka will have their own provincial health authorities before the end of this year, Parliament was told yesterday.

Health Minister Michael Malabag said the establishment of the provincial health authorities was a government policy for the management and administration of health services and programmes that needed to be established throughout the country.

He said it was a major health reform initiative to improve services at the provincial level by combining rural health services and public hospitals nationwide.

Malabag said the reform was voluntarily at this stage although the law was passed in 2007 to address health services to have only one board of governance that would improve planning, coordination and services delivery.

He said the pilot provinces were Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and Milne Bay.

He said recently, four new partnership agreements were signed between the Enga, Sandaun, West New Britain and Manus provincial governments to establish their provincial health authorities.

Malabag was responding to questions from Southern Highlands Governor William Powi.