ROWAN CALLICK,
ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR
The Australian
September 17, 2013
SIX Papua New Guinea porters have been transferred to an
international hospital in Lae after a third victim of the Black Cat Track
attacks died, apparently of infection and heart failure, in the substandard
facility to which all the local survivors were initially sent.
Lae International Hospital chairman Malcolm Lewis said when
he visited Angau public hospital on Sunday, one of the men was lying in
blood-soaked bandages on a blood-soaked bed.
+of+morobe+Tourism+Bureau+and+Lionel+Aigi.jpg) |
| Lionel Aigilo...the latest porter to die |
"Another, who'd just had an operation, was lying on an
inch-thick mattress on the floor in pain," Mr Lewis said. "Most had
infections, but none had penicillin drips. They were just copping it. It was
terrible."
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill was promised priority funding
from his then counterpart Kevin Rudd for a $355 million renovation to the
dilapidated hospital, the cost to be shared equally as a part of the PNG
asylum-seeker deal.
Mr Lewis said food and water for the injured porters had not
been provided by Angau, but was brought into the hospital by staff from the
Newcrest-run Morobe Mining venture as well as by Daniel King, whose wife
Christie was the guide who led the Australians and one New Zealander attacked
on the trek to safety.
Mr Lewis, an Australian whose Lae-based engineering firm
Hornibrook NGI employs more than 1000, said when the porters were taken to
Angau last week only one doctor and a nurse were working.
Power outages, he said, had caused operations to be
postponed. On Sunday, when Lae International had sought to obtain specially
donated blood so it could prepare to operate on the porters, the Angau blood
bank was closed all day because it was a long weekend; Independence Day
followed yesterday and hospital management had been unavailable. "We know
what happens in Angau," he said, its main buildings having collapsed from
white-ant infestation. "People die."
Mr Lewis's wife, Sherron, managing director at Lae
International Hospital, said the new facility was built four years ago with the
help of a team including Queensland orthopaedic surgeon Greg Day.
"In Lae, just hours from the country (Australia) that
has one of the best standards of medical care in the world, people suffer and
die alone," Mrs Lewis said.
"We don't need a medical fund for the porters. That
sort of thing obscures the whole issue and becomes 'band-aid therapy'. We are
now treating them for free.
"What is needed . . . is attention from both the
domestic community and from international friends to get our public hospital up
to a standard where it can at least get the basic standards right. That would
really help."
Porter's death in decrepit hospital
- The Australian
- September 17, 2013
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SIX Papua New Guinea porters have been transferred to an
international hospital in Lae after a third victim of the Black Cat
Track attacks died, apparently of infection and heart failure, in the
substandard facility to which all the local survivors were initially
sent.
Lae International Hospital chairman Malcolm Lewis said when he
visited Angau public hospital on Sunday, one of the men was lying in
blood-soaked bandages on a blood-soaked bed."Another, who'd just had an operation, was lying on an inch-thick mattress on the floor in pain," Mr Lewis said. "Most had infections, but none had penicillin drips. They were just copping it. It was terrible."
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill was promised priority funding from his then counterpart Kevin Rudd for a $355 million renovation to the dilapidated hospital, the cost to be shared equally as a part of the PNG asylum-seeker deal.
Mr Lewis said food and water for the injured porters had not been provided by Angau, but was brought into the hospital by staff from the Newcrest-run Morobe Mining venture as well as by Daniel King, whose wife Christie was the guide who led the Australians and one New Zealander attacked on the trek to safety.
Mr Lewis, an Australian whose Lae-based engineering firm Hornibrook NGI employs more than 1000, said when the porters were taken to Angau last week only one doctor and a nurse were working.
Power outages, he said, had caused operations to be postponed. On Sunday, when Lae International had sought to obtain specially donated blood so it could prepare to operate on the porters, the Angau blood bank was closed all day because it was a long weekend; Independence Day followed yesterday and hospital management had been unavailable. "We know what happens in Angau," he said, its main buildings having collapsed from white-ant infestation. "People die."
Mr Lewis's wife, Sherron, managing director at Lae International Hospital, said the new facility was built four years ago with the help of a team including Queensland orthopaedic surgeon Greg Day.
"In Lae, just hours from the country (Australia) that has one of the best standards of medical care in the world, people suffer and die alone," Mrs Lewis said.
"We don't need a medical fund for the porters. That sort of thing obscures the whole issue and becomes 'band-aid therapy'. We are now treating them for free.
"What is needed . . . is attention from both the domestic community and from international friends to get our public hospital up to a standard where it can at least get the basic standards right. That would really help."
Porter's death in decrepit hospital
- The Australian
- September 17, 2013
Share
Your Friends' Activity
NEW!
Discover news with your friends. Give it a try.
To get going, simply connect with your favourite social network:
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Facebook
SIX Papua New Guinea porters have been transferred to an
international hospital in Lae after a third victim of the Black Cat
Track attacks died, apparently of infection and heart failure, in the
substandard facility to which all the local survivors were initially
sent.
Lae International Hospital chairman Malcolm Lewis said when he
visited Angau public hospital on Sunday, one of the men was lying in
blood-soaked bandages on a blood-soaked bed."Another, who'd just had an operation, was lying on an inch-thick mattress on the floor in pain," Mr Lewis said. "Most had infections, but none had penicillin drips. They were just copping it. It was terrible."
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill was promised priority funding from his then counterpart Kevin Rudd for a $355 million renovation to the dilapidated hospital, the cost to be shared equally as a part of the PNG asylum-seeker deal.
Mr Lewis said food and water for the injured porters had not been provided by Angau, but was brought into the hospital by staff from the Newcrest-run Morobe Mining venture as well as by Daniel King, whose wife Christie was the guide who led the Australians and one New Zealander attacked on the trek to safety.
Mr Lewis, an Australian whose Lae-based engineering firm Hornibrook NGI employs more than 1000, said when the porters were taken to Angau last week only one doctor and a nurse were working.
Power outages, he said, had caused operations to be postponed. On Sunday, when Lae International had sought to obtain specially donated blood so it could prepare to operate on the porters, the Angau blood bank was closed all day because it was a long weekend; Independence Day followed yesterday and hospital management had been unavailable. "We know what happens in Angau," he said, its main buildings having collapsed from white-ant infestation. "People die."
Mr Lewis's wife, Sherron, managing director at Lae International Hospital, said the new facility was built four years ago with the help of a team including Queensland orthopaedic surgeon Greg Day.
"In Lae, just hours from the country (Australia) that has one of the best standards of medical care in the world, people suffer and die alone," Mrs Lewis said.
"We don't need a medical fund for the porters. That sort of thing obscures the whole issue and becomes 'band-aid therapy'. We are now treating them for free.
"What is needed . . . is attention from both the domestic community and from international friends to get our public hospital up to a standard where it can at least get the basic standards right. That would really help."
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