Alotau vaccination continues

COVID-19 vaccination effort continues in Alotau as the province maintains the highest lead among rural Papua New Guinea in the roll out of the vaccines, with 5,000 vials set.

The Alotau General Hospital has 400 staff. A little over 60 staff have been vaccinated.

Dr. Perista Mamadi said many staff and the public have raised concerns on the side effects of the vaccine.

He said it is mainly due to information shared through social media, causing these concerns.

Dr. Mamadi and his team have gone into communities and schools to generate awareness surrounding the vaccine and its side effects.

Dr. Mamadi is one of the 60-plus health staff who have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, specialist clinics had to be shut down and the training hospital ceased training for doctors, nurses and health extension officers (HEOs) since the beginning of last year.

 Dr. Mamadi said the vaccination has given him and his team a sense of security.

“It gives us a sense of security for our patients because our patients coming to the clinic are patients with hypertension, with diabetes, with cancer so that's the reason why we closed off clinics. Now with the vaccines around, hopefully we can be able to not only protect ourselves but protect the patients as well.

“We just started up our morning meetings, opened up our teaching sessions for the whole hospital and specialised clinics,” said Dr. Mamadi.  

Dr. Mamadi also addressed the impacts of the current law and order issues in the province and stated how they affected the operations of the Alotau General Hospital.  

“The majority of our staff live out of the hospital campus. We don't have a lot of accommodation on hospital campus. Many of the community health workers and the nurses live in the settlements or in the villages.”

Dr. Mamadi added that many hospital corporate staff, cleaners and plumbers who live in the settlements have also been greatly affected.

Hospital employee shifts have been affected, but more significantly the morale among staff and hospital management.

Author: 
Marysila Kellerton