Authorities respond to cholera on Daru

THE Health Department is making arrangements to airlift urgent medical supplies to Daru, Western, as it confirmed a suspected outbreak of cholera in the province, The National reports.

Acting secretary Paul Dopsie said yesterday the department was arranging to airlift oral rehydration solutions, intravenous fluid and other urgent supplies to Daru.

Dopsie said the department was monitoring the situation on the ground and also urged people to take preventive measures.

The department also advised relevant authorities to address poor water and sanitation situation in Daru to avoid further spread of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases.

Dopsie confirmed the department had received reports of more than 200 patients being treated at the Daru Hospital outpatient wing on Monday night.

He said laboratory samples had been sent to the pathology laboratory at the Port Moresby General Hospital to confirm the cause of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, AusAID is monitoring the cholera outbreak that had killed 15 children and hospitalised more than 60 people.

The outbreak’s proximity to Australia, and the regular flow of PNG people through the Torres Strait, on customary and traditional grounds, is being watched by Australia, authorities said.

“AusAID will meet with World Health Organisation officials and the national government to discuss the findings and, if necessary, may consider a joint mission to Daru,” an official said.

The National reported on Tuesday that hundreds of locals on Daru Island had been treated over the past three weeks, with 15 children dying from cholera.

Dr Amos Lano told The National the children died at both the hospital and their homes from cholera-related symptoms of watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and vomiting.

“Patients started feeling sick after drinking well water which is now being checked to determine if it is contaminated,” he said.

Warren Dutton, a former politician, said concerned residents in Kiunga met on Monday night to find ways to prevent the further spread of the disease.

“Up until now, there has been no notification from any of the health or other authorities responsible for the health and safety of the people of Western.

“Hand washing and sanitation has become crucial and we are urging that all flights, especially from Daru into Kiunga, are properly dealt with when passengers get off the plane,” he added.

 

 

Baki given seven days

By ANGELINE KARIUS

POLICE Commissioner Gari Baki has been given seven days to explain why he should not be suspended and his contract of employment terminated.

Baki told The National that he appeared before the Public Services Commission and was asked to show cause.

He has until next Tuesday to give a written explanation.

Baki is to respond to allegations that he misled Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and senior members of cabinet over a submission for K10 million to deploy police in the liquefied natural gas project areas.

Baki said he appeared before the commission at 1.30 yesterday afternoon.

It is understood that under the Public Service Management Act, and its general orders, any public servant who was alleged to have breached his or her employment contract would be given a minimum of two weeks to respond to the allegations.

Baki said in the meantime, he was performing his duties as police commissioner.

He issued a media statement yesterday afternoon saying he was still in charge, and he would investigate members of the force who were using the opportunity to cause disaffection and disunity in the force.

Baki called upon all police officers currently lobbying for support from government in the appointment of a new head of the force to refrain from doing so and return to their duties.

“I am still the commissioner of police and, if there are matters before cabinet, they will remain that way until cabinet has made its decision.

“Until then, I call upon all police officers, including acting deputy police commissioner Tony Wagambie and NCD metropolitan commander Chief Supt Fred Yakasa, to return to their posts and carry out their mandated duties,” Baki added.

He warned that continued lobbying could destabilise the force and might have negative implications on the law and order situation in the country.

Baki given seven days

By ANGELINE KARIUS

 

POLICE Commissioner Gari Baki has been given seven days to explain why he should not be suspended and his contract of employment terminated, The National reports.

Baki told The National that he appeared before the Public Services Commission and was asked to show cause.

He has until next Tuesday to give a written explanation.

Baki is to respond to allegations that he misled Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and senior members of cabinet over a submission for K10 million to deploy police in the liquefied natural gas project areas.

Baki said he appeared before the commission at 1.30 yesterday afternoon.

It is understood that under the Public Service Management Act, and its general orders, any public servant who was alleged to have breached his or her employment contract would be given a minimum of two weeks to respond to the allegations.

Baki said in the meantime, he was performing his duties as police commissioner.

He issued a media statement yesterday afternoon saying he was still in charge, and he would investigate members of the force who were using the opportunity to cause disaffection and disunity in the force.

Baki called upon all police officers currently lobbying for support from government in the appointment of a new head of the force to refrain from doing so and return to their duties.

“I am still the commissioner of police and, if there are matters before cabinet, they will remain that way until cabinet has made its decision.

“Until then, I call upon all police officers, including acting deputy police commissioner Tony Wagambie and NCD metropolitan commander Chief Supt Fred Yakasa, to return to their posts and carry out their mandated duties,” Baki added.

He warned that continued lobbying could destabilise the force and might have negative implications on the law and order situation in the country.

Western province cholera plan 'not implemented'

By MALUM NALU

 

Western Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry today slammed Daru hospital chief executive officer Dr Amos Lano for not implementing the provincial cholera plan since June this year.

Acting president Warren Dutton said the plan – which he showed documentary proof of - had been agreed to at the June meeting involving representatives from health agencies of the Catholic and Evangelical churches, Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML), police, Defense Force, local Level governments, provincial administration and the chamber of Commerce, but yet, Dr Lano had been sitting on it since then.

“The ‘Western Province Cholera Plan’, if it was ever completed, has not been implemented despite the fact that Dr Amos Lano is reported on the front page of today's The National newspaper, as saying ‘the outbreak was first reported on the island on Oct 5’,” Dutton said.

“Surely he should have at least immediately have advised his Governor (Bob Danaya), who is himself a medical practitioner of many years experience, of the fact that there was a cholera outbreak in the capital of the Western province.

 “Surely the national Department of Health should have long since have been asked to come to the assistance of the threatened people of the Western province.”

Dutton said shortly before noon on Monday, the business community and the missions of Kiunga were advised by the CEO of Kiunga hospital, Sr Rosemary Joseph, that 10 people had died in Daru from a suspected outbreak of cholera. 

“At 5pm, representatives of the Montfort Catholic Mission, OTML, Horizon Oil Limited, Western Province Constructions Limited and others met to be briefed by Sr Joseph on the precautions required to protect the citizens of Kiunga town, and all the villages in close proximity, from contracting the disease,” Dutton said.

“As a result of this advice, one of the guest houses now requires all its staff and all guests and visitors to disinfect their shoes and their hands before they enter.

 “Up until now there has been no notification, from any other of the health or other authorities responsible for the health and safety of the people of the Western province, advising of the imminent danger of cholera being introduced in to Kiunga and Tabubil on the direct aircraft flights from Daru. 

“It is understood that OTML health services in Tabubil yesterday Monday) afternoon held a meeting about cholera.

“It is known that OTML health services have long since developed a cholera contingency plan.”

 

Puns for educated minds

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall.  One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent 10 puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh.  No pun in 10 did.

Singing sensation

Samantha Clark took centre stage last Friday at the official launch of the Mineral Resources Development Corporation (MRDC) website when she turned up with her guitar and started belting out numbers, The National reports.

Invited guests included Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye, Finance, Treasury and Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill and Treasury secretary Simon Tosali, who is also chairman of MRDC. 

Standing in for Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, who could not make it, O’Neill praised MRDC for its improved investments and returns for landowner from funds under its custody.

Cholera hits Daru: 13 dead, 64 in hospital and 260 treated so far

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THIRTEEN people are dead and another 64 people have been admitted to the Daru General Hospital following a suspected cholera outbreak on the island, The National reports.

Hospital acting chief executive officer Dr Amos Lano said last night that a total of 260 people had been treated in the past three weeks.

He said those who died, both at the hospital and at their homes, were children who had suffered from acute watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and vomiting – all symptoms of cholera.

Lano said some patients claimed they started feeling sick after drinking well water which was being checked to determine whether it was contaminated.

He said that stool specimens had been sent for testing at the public central laboratory in Port Moresby.

Lano said while waiting for the results, they were treating all patients as cholera victims since the outbreak was first reported on the island on Oct 5.

He said all the reported cases were from the settlements on the island and more were being admitted, forcing the hospital to erect tents on the hospital ground to isolate suspected cases and to care and treat them.

Lano, however, said that the island was over-populated with more than 20,000 people, including the public servants, who depended entirely on water piped from the mainland. A few people and institutions, though, depend on well water and rain water.

He said more people were coming to the hospital following an awareness campaign that early treatment would save them from possible death.

Lano raised fears that the disease was likely to spread along coastal villages from Daru, even to the Torres Strait islands of Australia, because of the continuous movement of people from the affected areas along the Fly River.

However, he said health authorities were trying to set up a quarantine service on the island so that the people moving to the mainland were quarantined before leaving for the villages.

InterOil to hold public offering

INTEROIL Corp (InterOil), the operator of the second proposed liquefied natural gas, yesterday announced it will hold a public offering of its convertible senior notes to raise funds for the proposed condensate stripping plant at the Elk/Antelope in Gulf province, The National reports.

The offer is subject to market and other conditions due 2015.

A statement released yesterday said: “InterOil intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, including the proceeds from any exercise of the over-allotment option, for the development and construction of a proposed condensate stripping plant and related facilities, a LNG plant and related facilities, other exploration and development activities, the repayment of the US$25 million (K66 million) loan with Clarion Finanz AG, which matures next January, and general corporate purposes.”

InterOil is authorised to raise gross proceeds of up to US$280 million (K741 million) from the combined offerings, including over-allotments.

InterOil has granted the underwriters of the offerings a 30-day option to purchase 15% of each security to cover over-allotments, if any.

Each offering will be made under the individual prospectus supplement to InterOil’s base shelf prospectus dated last Tuesday.

American companies Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc  (MSCI) and Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc (MCI) will act as joint book-running managers on behalf of the underwriters for the common shares offering. 

MSCI will act as the sole book-running manager and MCI will act as the joint lead manager on behalf of the underwriters for the convertible note offering.