St John

Thanks to the agencies that have put hands together in purchasing three brand new ambulances for the St John Ambulance Service that arrived from Australia today.

The ambulances were sponsored by the Digicel Foundation, National Gaming and Control Board and the National Government through the Office of the NCD Governor and Office for the Member for Moresby South, Justin Tkatchenko.

The ambulances were brought into the country by the Royal Australian Air Force Hercules aircrafts.

The Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) is an intervention promoted by World Health Organisation (WHO) to reduce the number of deaths from postpartum hemorrhage or uncontrolled bleeding after child birth.

According to UNICEF, postpartum hemorrhage constitutes 47 percent of maternal deaths associated with childbirth in PNG. PNG has one of the highest maternal mortality rate in the world with one in 30 women dying during pregnancy.

The ambulance service reported that at around 4am today, a St John ambulance bus was held-up at gun point in Morata.

“Significant damage was inflicted upon our staff and vehicle, including indiscriminate theft of property,” St John said in a statement.

Commissioner Matthew Cannon said: “I am disgusted by this indiscriminate attack on my colleagues.

“Our ambulance men and women put their own lives at risk to help others every hour of the day; they choose to do this well aware of the ever-present and worsening dangers in this city.

Dr Yockopua, who is also the Secretary for the National Doctors Association, is highly supportive of improving coordinated prehospital care which is an extension of Emergency Department function and hospital-community interface.

He said it is disappointing that the Central Province Government still has not signed an agreement with St John Ambulance to properly fund the vital work in Central Province.

“We really need to grasp the current health situation in the country and the role emergency services play in saving lives,” said Dr Yockopua.

Chief Executive Officer of St John, Matthew Cannon, said, “St John and the RSPCA of PNG share similar values and both have an important role in saving lives – human and animals, respectively.

“We are extremely fortunate that the wider community and businesses support the work of both our organisations. St John and the RSPCA well understand the challenges of providing quality services as charity organisations.

This decision was reached by the National St John Council following delay by the National Government to release its funding allocation.

The delay in funding has the potential to threaten the bulk of the one million people in NCD and Central province who rely on St John’s free emergency services.

The Government, in this year’s budget, has allocated K10 million for St John Ambulance.

The Chairman of the National St John Council is now asking the National Department of Planning & Monitoring to release the funding as soon as possible.