Complications experienced during village births is of great concern.
Physiotherapist at the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Kundiawa General Hospital, Dr Sialand Banda, said of equal concern is the high number of unimmunised children at Bundi Rural LLG in Madang Province.
Over 30,000 people are estimated to live in the mountainous Upper and Lower Bundi.
With no basic services, the people of Bundi Rural LLG remained forgotten until local man, Vincent Kumura, started conducting rural clinics in December 2013, paving the way for the establishment of the Kumura Foundation in 2017.
The Travel2Change health patrol assists over 1,000 people every year; Papua New Guineans who had no way of accessing proper medical care.
Among the group of health patrol trekkers is physiotherapist, Dr Sialand Banda.
Attached with the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Kundiawa General Hospital, Dr Banda assisted over 400 patients on the first day of the clinic at Snow Pass.
During that time, three emergency patients were quickly referred to the Kundiawa hospital; two children with acute pneumonia and a severely anaemic woman who was suspected to have cervical cancer.
Dr Banda said a good number of women at Upper Bundi experience complications during village births, while over 80 percent of children there are unimmunised.
“There’s no proper delivery so mothers experience problems like cancer of the cervix,” he stated.
“Most of the cases we see here are congenital cases, meaning those that are born with (defects). And these are some of the deformities but they cannot go to the hospital because of the rugged (terrain), the distance and with finance too, they cannot access the nearest hospital to get treatment as early as possible.
“That is why they are left behind and these congenital cases become their handicap or disability.”
Another area of concern was nutrition, with Dr Banda highlighting that a number of children presented with protein malnutrition, or kwashiorkor.
“Also, some of the main areas that we assessed was malaria. But most of the cases are not referred to the hospital as soon as possible until we came here and worked with Kumura Foundation; walking long distances, crossing the borders, climbing mountains and crossing rivers. We see these patients, we see their needs and we help them.”
Dr Banda thanked the Simbu Provincial Health Authority for allowing their medical professionals to accompany the Kumura Foundation to treat the people of Bundi, who are at the border of Simbu and Madang.
He further stated that the fully-kitted ambulance, donated by the Sir Brian Bell Foundation, has proven to be of great assistance as it transports emergency patients to the nearest district health centres of Gembogl or Denglagu in Simbu, or the main hospitals in Kundiawa and Madang.
(Locals of Upper Bundi waiting patiently to be served by the Kumura Foundation’s Travel2Change team at Snow Pass on Tuesday)