The Hela Provincial Hospital is among the best managed hospitals in Papua New Guinea!
This follows the highest commendation of an ‘Unqualified’ rating from the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) recently.
This achievement was officially made known to the Hela Provincial Health Authority (PHA) during its board meeting last week, after the AGO completed an audit of the hospital’s 2016 financial statement of accounts.
Assistant Auditor General with the Provincial and Local Level Government Audit Division, Jeremiah Ten, told the PHA board that the ‘Unqualified’ rating was uncommon for any hospital to attain such a level of credibility in their financial statements.
“Out of the three hospitals so far audited, Hela Provincial Hospital is the only one whose 2016 financial statements were true and fairly stated,” he said.
Ten commended the PHA board and senior management while presenting the AGO’s assessment, saying it was very encouraging to note the efforts of the board and management in ensuring this outcome was achieved.
“It’s not just an eye opener but this is setting a standard and is the way forward for other hospitals and boards in the country.”
A visibly elated Hela PHA chairman, Peter Botten, described the result as a great achievement.
“This is such an outstanding effort and I’d like to thank the Auditor General’s Office, the Hela PHA board and our management team for providing the support to help get us to where we are now.
“This is a great testimony of the dedication and teamwork that everyone has put in together and to achieve this rating in a little over 18 months since we took over the management is absolutely fantastic.”
Ten added that the Auditor General was pleased that the hospital is maintaining strong internal governance and control structures.
“This result clearly shows the benefits of having competent and hardworking professionals starting from the board to the CEO, their management and staff. Because in the end, having a clean bill of financial statements ensures that public funds are safeguarded and the people of Hela get the quality of health services that they deserve.”
(Assistant Auditor General with the Provincial and Local Level Government Audit Division, Jeremiah Ten, right, congratulates Hela PHA chair, Peter Botten, following the commendation from the Auditor General's Office)