Manpower at the Lae Area Medical Store (AMS) will finally receive a boost following a visit by Health Minister, Dr Lino Tom, this week.
The Health Minister and the Department of Health Secretary, Dr Osborne Liko, came to Lae, Morobe Province, to see and hear firsthand the challenges that lead to medicine shortage in the country.
Their two-day fact-finding trip included a visit to the ANGAU Memorial Provincial Hospital on Wednesday (December 6th), and the AMS yesterday.
The Lae AMS receives, stores and distributes medical drugs to at least 200 health facilities in Morobe Province as well as the other four provinces of Madang, Eastern Highlands, Manus and Northern (Oro).
Despite the workload, only four personnel are on the floor at the moment.
“I think the first place where we can start it is heavy-handed conversations about the situation on the ground so that’s why we’re encouraging the staff on the ground to give us their honest opinion on what they think should be changed, or what their needs are here and it should be addressed by us at the department,” Dr Tom said whilst at the Lae AMS.
“Our staff back at the department have pointed that issue out about the lack of staff at the AMS. And we’ve come here and we’ve realised the enormity (of the situation). We’ve looked at the size of their storehouse and they have only four people receiving stock and packing stock. Their staff strength is about 16.
“It’s being addressed now. The Department of Treasury has given us 20 casual positions that we can use upfront in the short term while the structure is being approved. So hopefully, we can mitigate that issue by increasing the number of staff.”
This is one of the short-term solutions to addressing the medicine shortage issue.