Kundiawa Hospital

Youth leader from Kay Kona at Watabung, Tennis Pepna, said the incident occurred around 3pm.

"It all happened within a minute but severe damages were caused. Fortunately, no one died,” he said.

The two victims were reportedly injured by falling trees. The child was admitted at Kundiawa Hospital while the woman is being treated at the nearby Watabung Health Centre.

The local said the whirlwind uprooted trees, damaged power posts and homes. The felled trees subsequently blocked off the road.

The patients received medical check-up by the six member medical team from Kundiawa Hospital on October 11-17 at Yandera, Upper Bundi.

Among the patients were two 50-year-olds, one with stage four cervical cancer and the other with chronic Henson disease, who suffered severe abdominal pains and renal issues for six years.

The cancer patient was referred by the visiting medical team for urgent treatment and blood transfusion at the Kundiawa Hospital.

A four-year-old female patient with chronic productive cough was also among the five patients being airlifted.

The medical outreach program was carried out from October 11-17 at Snow Pass and Yandera villages of remote Upper Bundi.

People from all over the rural Bundi area, including areas along the borders of Jimi, Chimbu and Eastern Highlands Province, attended the program to get medical checkups.

Patients as young as three weeks old to 80 were seen and treated.

Community impact projects director Vincent Kumura said the program, aimed to address the prevalent healthcare needs in the remote areas, was a huge success with a very big turnout.

The hospital’s CEO Mathew Kaluvia indicated this recently when he said 12 Senior Medical Officers and eight surgeons at the hospital were schedule to perform in the respective disciplines at the operating theatre once a week due to the lack of spaces.

The current operating theatres, intensive care units and wards were built by the Japanese Government as a gift to the people of Chimbu in 1994 when the hospital served a smaller population within the province.