Port Moresby General Hospital

PMGH Director for Medical Services, Dr. Koni Sobi, announced this during the donation of three new vital Observation Monitors to the Emergency Department.

“The important point is for the staff and the patients to respect property. This is all in turn will help to care for our healthcare needs. Public property in the hospital is everyone’s responsibility to protect,” he stated.

The reason for this call to action was due to the damaged equipment in the recent past by a patient.

These include hospital bedding for patients and toiletries. Many corporate friends of POMGen have come forward with variety of gifts and one of the recent ones is the Shady Rest Hotel.

Shady Rest Hotel donated 60 cartons of Dove Soap to the Port Moresby General Hospital to support the needs of patients admitted to the hospital.

Marketing Manager, Wesley Watuna stated that a strong community is built on the foundation of good health.

PacTrade’s Marketing Coordinator, Rosslyn Arek who delivered the donation said they have been supporting Friends of PomGen since last year with emergency appeals for the hospital and they intend to continue this partnership in 2023.

With this donation for the month of January, we now kick start our monthly supply of new born packs for the Maternity Ward. FOPG Operations, Grace Roland was on hand to receive the donation.

She thanked PacTrade for the wonderful partnership and support.

Donating blood is a simple act that can save many lives and at the same time benefit the donor by improving overall cardiovascular health, reduce the chance of heart attacks, lower the risk of stroke, stimulate the production of new red blood cells, and lower the risk of cancer.

Leon Buskens, Santos Country Chair PNG who is a regular blood donor said; “It is important for staff and the organisation (Santos) to contribute as we never know when we or a loved one may be in real need of blood.

Director of Medical Services at Port Moresby General Hospital, Dr. Koni Sobi said there are currently 295 unclaimed bodies of the deceased at the hospital morgue.

Director of Medical Services at Port Moresby General Hospital Dr. Koni Sobi said there were 92 unclaimed bodies and body parts, which were at the morgue from March – July 2022. These were buried today.

Dr Kobi said last year they did just one mass burial for unclaimed bodies brought to the morgue between January and March of 2022.

Official records from the Christmas period record nearly fifty (50) cases with 70 per cent being male.

The most common injury was Assault and Blunt force trauma, with Penetrating injuries being the next most common.

The New Year period, however, saw a quiet night progressing into the New Year with most casualties arriving after 8am to the department.

By 3:00pm on Monday 1st January 2023, over 40 patients were seen, 80 per cent were male.

Unfortunately, 98 per cent of all injuries during both the Christmas and New Year period were alcohol related.

In a public appeal poster Port Moresby General Hospital appealed for urgent blood donation from the public because the hospital has low blood supply.

The appeal said the blood donation would help women with complications of pregnancy such as ectopic pregnancies, and hemorrhage before, during or after childbirth.

It will also help children with severe anemia often resulting from malaria or malnutrition, people with trauma following man-made and natural disasters, and many complex surgical and medical procedures and cancer patients.

The PNG Defence Force has retracted its earlier statement saying preliminary investigation revealed that the soldier alleged to have caused willful damages to medical equipment in the PMGH Emergency Ward, was a patient there. He was referred to PMGH A&E Department on the afternoon of Thursday 15 December. 

While they are awaiting a report from PMGH on circumstances surrounding the incident, hospital CEO Dr Paki Molumi said the incident occurred on the said date (15 December), between 3:15pm and 3:30pm.