Papua New Guinea public health system will feel the effect as no new doctors will graduate from the University of Papua New Guinea School of Medical and Health Sciences next year.
The country as one of the worse doctor to patient ratio in the world, a World Health Organization report showed the worrying statistics in its 2008 Report as, density of physicians per 1,000 population is 0.05.
The UPNG medical school had already resumed class but, the weeks of boycott of classes by students have affected its learning hours.
Higher Education Secretary Prof. David Kavanamur revealed that “The UPNG Medical School is in full swing teaching but there will no graduates in 2017, but in 2018 because of learning hours being lost (due to the student boycott).”
Health Secretary Pascoe Kase said the delay of producing doctors to serve in the public hospitals is serious.
“Any delay will mean that the health sector, which already have workers shortage become worse off,” Kase told Loop PNG.
“We need doctors to graduate on big numbers so they can address the critical work force shortage.
“We have good plans and policies now in place to address the shortage but we need students to return to class so we can produce graduates on time to address our country’s health challengers,” Kase said.