A project called “Save Etep Rural Hospital” has been initiated by a concerned citizen.
With the help of her Australian friend, Yanamlyn Yana has set up a fundraising page on behalf of the major rural hospital in Morobe Province.
Run by Lutheran Health Services, the Etep Rural Hospital in Morobe’s Tewai-Siassi district is on the brink of closure.
The mission run facility serves almost 100,000 catchments of the three districts of Tewai-Siassi, Kabwum and Raicoast in Madang Province.
Yanamlyn Yana, who is attached with PNG Tribal Foundation, said coming from a rural village in Gulf Province, she has seen the devastating impact of having their small health centre closed and not functioning to the full capacity as it should – even to this day.
The Kaintiba woman made a personal commitment to help Etep, saying she values services like this in the rural areas and it will be a sad day for the people of all three districts if it closes.
She placed a call for someone to help set up a GoFundMe, and an Australian-based friend, Kalolaine Fainu, who is an emerging female filmmaker of Tongan/Australian heritage, reached out to help set it up.
“Unfortunately, because of some technical difficulties on the website, we switched to MyCause website to launch the fundraiser page,” stated Yana.
“Many rural hospitals do not show it but they serve the majority of the population. Remember, we have 80 percent living in rural areas in PNG under worse circumstances.
“If our urban hospitals show that they do not get needed operational funding to keep going, imagine our rural hospitals, let alone poor clinics in very remote parts of this country.
“It is a sad state. The pandemic has really exposed our health system and how bad the mandated and relevant authorities have neglected it for years.”
Individuals wishing to help can visit the page and donate.
“Opportunities are endless for one to help make a difference. If we look closely, we will see so many today,” she said.