Nurses and other health workers are encouraged to work in PNG’s rural areas.
Lae district nursing officer, Sr Manzia Bomiringnu, outlined this during the commemoration of International Nurses Day as well as the 50th golden jubilee of the PNG Nurses Association on Friday, May 12th.
Sr Bomiringnu has 43 years of service under her belt.
She said those in public health started in the bushes.
“Mi yangpla meri na fes posishen blo mi go lo Menyamya. In 1980,” she said. “Na mi go wok wantem ol aid post orderlies – APO. Ol liklik dokta blo ples. Well-experienced. No nursing officer, no health extension officer but these people are there.
“I acknowledge their work. Thank you.
“From 1980-83, I was in the bushes for three years. ’84-85 I left and came to town and grew old here, in Lae district. Please I want all of you to go to the bush,” she told the nurses and community health workers.
“You will gain valuable experience when working in the rural areas. You’ll be HEO on your own, you’ll be doctor on your own.
“I have seen that the standard of nursing has dropped. It has dramatically dropped because I see that money is now our focus. Money has influenced us. We no longer work to serve patients; we now work to get money.
“Today we celebrate 50 years and I am happy to be here. I have submitted my papers for retirement but I don’t know if the CEO will retire me or not. All of us here are from public health and we feel that it’s time we rest.”
Sister Concilia Amol started as a junior nurse at the ANGAU Memorial Provincial Hospital in the mid-1980s. She has remained there all these years and is now the director of ANGAU’s nursing services directorate and the acting nurse manager.
Originally from Hanahan village in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Sr Amol, who is also looking at retiring, said nurses are multi-skilled workers who operate with no limits to their scope of work.
“A lot of times, we consult Him – you all know who I’m talking about, we are all Christians. Sometimes I sit down to work and meditate and the Good Lord always tells me, there is time for everything. And if I think it is coming closer now, I will just call it a day and go.
“Self-examine yourself holistically and see your weaknesses and strengths. A lot of us are failing so many times.
“Time management and everything else that I had mentioned, please, let it empower us to do good things and we will be going with a good heart. Maybe end of this year or next year, we are prepared.”
(District nursing officer, Sr Manzia Bomiringnu, expressing herself during the commemoration of International Nurses Day as well as the 50th golden jubilee of the PNG Nurses Association on Friday, May 12th