The Morobe Provincial Health Authority is yet to hold dialogue with health extension officers and nurses to address their grievances.
The public health workers are calling on the management and Morobe leaders to address the longstanding issues of low manpower, lack of resources and inadequate facilities.
MoPHA CEO, Dr Kipas Binga, said while the health workers set April 7th as the date to meet, he had other commitments to attend to, including the funeral services of a doctor on Thursday, and a nurse on Friday.
“We thank them for their understanding, ol union, and we’re going to approach this together as a team and try and bring all concerned parties to see how best we can support each other to empower health in Morobe and move forward,” said Dr Binga on Friday, April 9th.
“That opportunity will be given on Monday, hopefully after lunch. Mipla bai sidaun na stori wantaim ol.”
Nurses and health extension officers in Morobe Province are bearing the brunt of ANGAU’s partial closure.
They called a media briefing on April 1st to highlight that they are underfunded, under-resourced and have an ageing workforce that cannot handle the current COVID-19 surge.
“With COVID-19, you’ll need emergency drugs, you’ll need oxygen, you’ll need specialist medical officers and nurses. We have to come public because it’s really hard to get our bureaucrats and politicians to really come down and see the issues of health service delivery right in the community,” Nurses Association Morobe president, Siling Awasa, told Lae media.