Australian Doctors International (ADI) has handed over essential medical equipment to local partners in three provinces of Papua New Guinea.
Sixteen health facilities across West New Britain, Western Province and New Ireland will receive the medical equipment, further highlighting ADI’s ongoing work within these provinces and their rural health centres.
In procuring the equipment, ADI was supported by Old Dart Foundation in West New Britain, Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) in Western Province, and Newcrest Mining in New Ireland. The health facilities to receive the equipment were selected through close conversations with provincial health leaders and decision makers.
The vital medical equipment includes: digital blood pressure monitors, portable pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, otoscopes and malnutrition bands. These will assist healthcare workers in both urban and remote areas to ensure that the quality of clinical care remains high, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Dr Mathias Sapuri, Deputy Chairman of the National Health Board of Papua New Guinea and Chairman of the West New Britain Provincial Health Authority (WNBPHA), commended the Australian Doctors International for their commitment to support WNBPHA and WNBPG in their efforts to provide access to health services to wider community of West New Britain.
“The recent donation of essential medical equipment to five rural and two urban health facilities was a timely intervention to ensure that our caregivers were supported to continue to serve our people efficiently.”
This handover of essential medical equipment comes in addition to ADI’s COVID-19 response which involved the shipment of over 70,000 individual pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), amounting to 940 kilograms of kit. This included over 250 boxes of gloves, 19,000 surgical masks and 759 disposable scrubs.
ADI thanked its partners, the Australian government’s ANCP program, the Old Dart Foundation and Newcrest Mining for their support in procuring this equipment.
“Ensuring access to healthcare for all remains a high priority for ADI and for their in-country partners and stakeholders. ADI stands behind health workers in PNG during these challenging times and will continue to work alongside partners and stakeholders to improve the lives of urban and remote populations,” stated the organisation.