The government has announced it will commence the construction of a 395 bed provincial hospital for the Central Province with an allocation of K50 million from the K258 million Provincial Health Authority Investment.
The Minister for Finance and Planning Rainbo Paita said this when the 2023 Budget was drawn down at parliament yesterday afternoon.
He said it is the first budget for the 11th parliament and is the largest budget in PNG’s history at K24.5 billion.
Minister Paita said, boosting investments in the health and education sectors equates to a more productive society and a growing economy.
“The health sector receives a total funding expenditure budget of K1.7 billion and a capital investment of K661.7 miillion, aimed to deliver quality health services and improve health infrastructure at all levels, says Paita.”
The other priority investments in the Health sector includes:
• PNG Medical University-K50million
• National Specialist Hospital-K10million
• Improving National health Systems and Capacities-K170.9million and
• Addressing other major infectious diseases (Malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19)-K56.2 million
He stressed that they are stepping up momentum in addressing the health needs of our rural people.
And the government is committing K100 million to the development of provincial hospitals and K70 million to upgrading District Hospitals to a level-4 standard, said Paita.