Doctors

ENB doctors threaten to withdraw services

President of National Doctors Association East New Britain branch and senior surgeon, Dr Kevin Lapu, presented a petition to the Member for Rabaul Dr. Allan Marat, Acting Provincial Administrator Levi Mano and Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector Januarus Vosivai yesterday in Rabaul.

This is following the recent violence that has left three people dead, homes burnt, and the town still under threat of reprisal by conflicting parties.

Provincial authorities have been given a deadline of Monday 20 November 2023 to respond to the petition.

ENB Doctors issue petition calling for stop to lawlessness

The move is on behalf of the ENB Provincial Health Authority doctors and Rabaul Provincial Hospital staff comes amidst the alarming rise in criminal activities, putting professionals, including doctors and nurses at risk.

NDA Branch president and Senior Surgeon- Dr Kevin Lapu presented the petition to the Member for Rabaul Dr Allan Marat, Acting Provincial Administrator Levi Mano and ENB Police Commander Januarus Vosivai on Thursday 15th November, at the Rabaul Provincial Hospital.

Doctor-patient ratio uneven

According to the standard doctor-to-people ratio set by the World Health Organization is 1:1000; however, that is not the case in PNG as one doctor is serving 17,000 patients. This is alarming.

Minister for Health Dr Lino Tom shared this in parliament today.

Morobe Governor Luther Wenge has asked Minister Tom to bring in overseas doctors to support the health workforce in the country.

Dr Tom also raised concerns that the medical school in the country is also producing a constant number of doctors not exceeding 60 every year which is a big problem in the country.

Parlt Backs Medical Bill

The Medical Registration Act was enacted in Parliament in 1980, which used to regulate and register all different cadres of health professionals in the country.

The law sets out the requirements of health professional registration and the standard under which they are to practice.

ANGAU doctors stop work

Their demands, which were presented on Thursday March 25th, were not met.

They have undertaken the action to demonstrate their dissatisfaction at the management of the Morobe Provincial Health Authority.

The doctors say the health authority has persistently failed to respond or act on their numerous petitions.

The management is yet to address the acute medical officer shortage issue as well as honour annual gratuity payments for contract officers for 2020.

Doctors strained

Staff shortage, temporary positions and unpaid gratuity are just some of their concerns that have fallen on deaf ears.

A media briefing was held at the ANGAU chapel on Thursday morning, where the National Doctors Association – Morobe president, Dr Barry Mutan, said they have submitted nine petitions already regarding the issue of manpower shortage.

Sir Puka labels doctors as ‘facebook doctors’

He said he is responsible for health issues and not Facebook.

Minister Temu said he is always passionate to respond to any queries raised by the doctors or any medical staff.

He added that with a vast experience as a medical doctor, he can always guide and advise them on how to deal with issues at hand.

“Doctors, please if you have any queries, come to me and let’s talk about it rather than going to Facebook.

“Facebook will not answer your questions because it is full of faceless people,” says Sir Puka.

Doctors become victims of weekend getaway in Kimbe

Constable Martin Vitolo told Loop PNG that they (doctors) have file a complaint at the Kimbe police station along with quotation from the damages done to their  vehicle.

He said police will be carrying out their investigations into the matter today or tomorrow.

A female doctor who wanted to remain anonymous because of safety reasons told Loop PNG that they were attacked by the whole community at Kumbango after swimming in the river near the compound.

Doctors advised to wait longer before diagnosing miscarriages

Experts who have carried out a large study say the guidelines for hospitals on diagnosing a miscarriage need to be updated, so that women always get a second ultrasound scan two weeks after the first if the gestational sac seen in the scan is small. It is not always possible to be sure that a very small embryo with no detectable heartbeat is going to miscarry, they say.