The Operation Open Heart committee is working to secure a donor to provide pacemakers for heart disease cases in Papua New Guinea.
OOH has started to carry out pacemaker surgery for heart patients.
They’ve done about 30 pacemaker cases for adults so far this year. The operation is done on a weekly basis with two cases every week.
Pacemakers are electronic devices that stimulate the heart with electrical impulses to maintain or restore a normal heartbeat.
The pacemaker works by delivering electrical impulses to specific areas of heart muscle via electrodes.
The body of the pacemaker is most often implanted under the skin of the patient's left chest.
A pacemaker costs about K7,000 and OOP committee member Jacque Ware said many Papua New Guineans are unable to afford that amount.
Ware said they have to supply the pacemaker for the patients which are bought from Australia.
Ware said they are currently working on finding a donor who can donate pacemakers for OOH.