Shortage

Health workers fearful of drug-resistant TB

A health worker painted a distressful picture at the ANGAU outpatient, saying they have noted an increase in the number of the multidrug-resistant TB patients from the catchment area at Buimo.

Describing the situation as “scary”, he said they can only control MDR-TB if initial patients, who are on 6-month treatment, are on medication consecutively; no missing treatment, no running short of drugs.

Multidrug-resistant TB is more costly than TB, meaning the government will have to spend more.

Health Minister denies drug shortage claims, again

The allegations on shortage of medical supplies are being recirculated on mainstream and social media.

The concerns were initially brought to public attention in May this year, where Professor Glen Mola, the head of the discipline of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of PNG, said they heard during a Port Moresby General Hospital staff meeting that the many thousands of HIV positive people on treatment may not have any medicine to take.

Serious water issue in Kimbe

The town is on the verge of having no water.

According to Water PNG in Kimbe, the cause of water shortage is due to only three out of a total of seven well bores that are currently operational as the other four were condemned due to contamination and iron bacteria.

The town can hardly survive on three well bores and the problem is worsening by the day with supply capacity drastically dropping by 20 percent per day.

Health secretary concerned over ‘ill-informed comments’

In a statement, Secretary Pascoe Kase while it was true that there were limited supply levels of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) drugs in the Department’s central stores, this was for two reasons.

“The first is that all drugs are distributed by the HIV Program Teams to treatment centres around the country. It is vitally important that adequate levels of these drugs are maintained at clinics close to the patient groups to ensure continuity of supply,” stated Kase.