A dying health system in Papua New Guinea

By BAPA BOMOTENG

What is really happening with the health system in Papua New Guinea?
The national doctors have gone to the limits of making a choice
between a moral life and death service of sacrifice and monetary
compensation for services.
What does that say about the Department of Health and the bureaucratic system?
Is it productive or old-aged and grinding to a halt because of
incompetent and aged work force?
Health Department gets a fair slice of the budget over the years but
it seems the funds never get tangible medicine and health workers
benefit in the rural areas of PNG.
Where are all the budgetary allocations going to each year?
Are there any draw downs?
Or are they being parked in trust accounts?
Or is all the government funding going to "paper shufflers" or to
"paper doctors" and "paper health consultants" and "paper paramedics"
as it has been happening all across other departments.
Now we know there are "fat cats" getting fed at the cost of rest of
health services.
Needless to mention, the termite-infested and aged facilities like
Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, the hospitals in Mt Hagen, Daru,
Mendi, Modilon and Port Moresby.
The facilities are rotting away almost on a weekly basis.
And the entire negative images being heard of in the news.
While our people are dying slowly with an almost systematic alienation
program.
The Minister responsible and his Secretary must be held morally
responsible for loss of life while the system seems to be clogged and
is not responding to the demands of the population growth currently
facing our nation.
Why are we seeing all the policy and awareness in the Post -Courier
and the National almost on a weekly basis?
How much is all the cost of adverts?
Why are TB and AIDS getting all the attention?
What about the general medical services and the general workers welfare?
Are not the neglected services in themselves a psychological deadly
killer equivalent to AIDS and TB or malaria for that matter?
Why advertise and promote new programmes when we are not able to
maintain and sustain the existing infrastructure?
Why are we not able to sustain and properly look after our national doctors?
How could we have asked the Cubans to come and do our work?
It's a symptom of neglect all around.
Is something wrong with the system or the people sitting behind those
chairs in the Department of Health head office in Waigani have lost
the passion and the vision for a healthy population by 2050.
Why aim for 2050 when the basics of today are neglected?
There needs to be a revamp of the people in the positions of decision
making at Waigani.
Is the action taken by the national doctors a wake-up call or not?
The elites and the educated can afford the private doctors and
overseas medical services.
What about the simple villager, the urban settler and the average worker?
Where do they get help?
What a sad state of affairs and a state of seizure!
Health services have become an eyesore and a slow systematic killer
across the country.
It seems our citizens must live a careful and healthy life because the
public health system will not help.
God help us.