National Department of Health

Medical & Pharmacy Boards sworn in

Members of the two boards recited oaths and signed legal instruments in the presence of NDoH’s Legal officer Steven Jilawara and Acting Registrar of the PNG Medical Board Dr. Alphonse Tay.

Health Minister Jelta Wong said that the Medical Board and Pharmacy Board play extremely important roles to ensure the health system in PNG is safe, and is operated by a team of technically, professionally and highly qualified, competent people.

Changes in health department

Dr Sibauk Bieb is being replaced by Dr Daoni Esorom who will be acting on the position for the next two to three months. Upon his appointment, he was the manager of Health Promotion and Education Branch.

At a handover-take-over ceremony on August 8th, Health Secretary Pascoe Kase thanked Dr Bieb for honourably accepting the decision to have him replaced without any hesitation.

Dr Bieb delivered a moving speech in which he acknowledged the decision of Kase as head of the department, saying the position belongs to the people of PNG and not his own.

Nationwide vaccination campaign launched

This was supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The campaign aims to vaccinate more than 1.3 million children in the age group of 6 months to 5 years with measles and rubella (MR) vaccines, and then children from birth to 5 years with oral polio vaccine (OPV).

This exercise further demonstrates Papua New Guinea’s commitment to improve health and well-being of its children by protecting them against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Improvement noted in malaria testing, diagnosis

These achievements were presented by the National Department of Health Malaria Program Manager, Leo Makita; PNG Institute of Medical Research Deputy Director, Dr Moses Laman; and National Department of Health Malaria Medical Officer, Dr Leonard Nawara, to over 100 medical practitioners and students at the University of Papua New Guinea’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences on 26 February.

Better health services for PNGeans

In partnership with the National Department of Health, Australia is supporting Catholic Church Health Services (CCHS) and Anglicare to widen the health services offered at standalone sexual and reproductive health clinics across 18 provinces.

This is a true partnership, with Australia funding staff salaries and operations of facilities, PNG Government paying for medicines and the Catholic Church Health Services providing facilities.

New EHP polio case reported

This is the fourth case in the country, following confirmation of two cases from Morobe Province in June and July 2018 and a case from Enga in early August.

The confirmation was made on Friday, 10 August, by the Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Lab. The little girl had an onset of paralysis on 8 July.

Based on the lab results, this case is genetically linked to the current outbreak in the country.

Health dept receives medical supplies

The supplies are purposely for earthquake affected provinces of Hela and Southern Highlands.

The supplies also include medicines for the response to and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and rape, family planning kits such as male and female condoms, oral contraceptive pills and implants at the value of US$ 1.75 million.

The reproductive health kits include medicines and disposable items for conducting safe and clean deliveries for pregnant women through skilled birth attendants.

New snakebite project to improve access to antivenins

The ‘PNG Snakebite Partnership’ is a three-year project involving the National Department of Health, the Australian Government, Seqirus Pty Ltd, and the Charles Campbell Toxinology Centre (CCTC), at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). 

The project is intended to significantly improve access to antivenoms by combining a large antivenom donation, healthcare worker training, with a purpose-built distribution and product management system. 

Southern Region medical supplies received

The Badili Area Medical Store received its 100 percent Medical Supplies Kit today.

Representatives of the National Department of Health, supplier Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals and regional distributors welcomed this supply.

The 100 percent Medical Supplies Kits are basically essential everyday items packed into a kit and distributed directly to facilities throughout the region.  

Since 2013, the government took on board the procurement and distribution of 100 percent medical supplies kit through its own procurement system.

Antimicrobial resistance plan launched

The action plan is to safeguard the country from national health and economic security threats.

To deal with drug resistance in a coordinated way, one health concept or approach is required to make sure actions by the 3 main implementing government stakeholders are coordinated. This is to achieve common goals for preventing the development and spread of resistance, including the human health, environmental health and the environment.