WHP health care services extremely poor

 ALLOW  me  to  express my support for the  the letter “PNG’s public health system is failing badly” by Kuai Kange (Jan 29). 

I am a health worker at  management  level  with the Western Highlands provincial health authority (PHA) created recently under the National Health Reform  to  refine  and deliver better health services in PNG. 

The National Department  of  Health   has over the last 20 years gone into different management systems.

To manage and deliver health services in PNG with legislative changes and so on in order to improve the management and delivery of services, the PHA  system was adopted by three pilot provinces (WHP  being one of them). 

It is not the system that manages and delivers improved health services; it  is the person who sits in the chair to control and move the organisation smoothly. 

It was preached that the previous health system was not working in the provinces so the PHA Act 2007 was introduced. 

We, service providers and customers (patients who seek health services), anticipated that all will work  under  the new system after a lot of publicity about the good work in WHP, but it has gone backwards based on observations by the  public as well as health workers and the managers of  the PHA team. 

There is no physical change or other changes in the  delivery  of  health  services in the province since the declaration in March 2011. 

The PHA bosses are claiming that the infrastructure development done by local MPs before the  PHA  between 2010 and  2010 in Mul-Baiyer and Tambul are their work under the community health post.

These are not true; the PHA  has  not done anything to bring any changes to the delivery of health services in WHP. 

Therefore, it is true that there  is  shortage  of medical supplies, doctors and health workers in the province. 

There is no efficiency in the management of health services regardless of all the good talk in the media. 

The bad has yet to come and  expect  more  lives  to be lost if we continue the trend. 

The PHA has given authority to only one man to decide on all aspects of health services and the final answer points to inefficiency in patient care. 

While  our main business in patient care lies under the principle “treat the sick, prevent sickness and promote health” it is happening the other way around under the PHA.

It  is  now  operating like a profit-making entity. 

Our patients are reported  to  bypass Mt Hagen hospital  to  go to Migandi or  Kunjip for services as the provincial hospital is not effective in its service delivery. 

Therefore, my advice to those who are sick; seek medical or health services elsewhere, other  than those government-run facilities in WHP. 

This is a fact because there will be no staff to attend to the sick and no drugs or medical equipment to treat them as is the case now. 

Sula Ipi

WHPHA