People in Western Highlands Province are being reluctant in getting the Covid-19 vaccine despite the set-up of new 7 testing sites in the province.
Western Highlands Provincial PHA CEO Ms Jane Holden said people remain hesitant to get tested or vaccinated along with the booster because of the reduction in the number of reported cases.
She said they are doing the best they can to educate the people on the importance of getting vaccinated before another Covid-19 variant hits the country.
“We need to keep telling people the truth that without the vaccine, we run the risk of falling victim to another Covid-19 variant that could be more sinister than what we got at the moment with omicron,” Ms Holden said.
Currently, they have only fully vaccinated 7 and a half thousand people which is less than 3% of the population.
Ms Holden said, since January, they have recorded a total of 822 cases of Covid-19 alone and 15 deaths. She added that, at the moment, they are only seeing 1-5 positive cases a week.
Ms Holden said “Numbers will continue to strike because people are not coming forward for testing even when they are showing Covid like symptoms.”
Other than that, like other hospitals in the province facing infrastructure problems, Western Highlands Province is also preparing plans to seek funding support to address some of the issues faced at their health center and clinics.
Ms Holden said they are looking at opening more operating theaters for Mt Hagen General Hospital and are also looking at turning Tambul Krotna and Chinsley into district hospitals.
“Plans for these projects have been completed and submitted and waiting for request for budget to start ground work,” she said.
Meanwhile, without good supply of medical drugs and other vital aid supplies to stock-up in preparation for the National Elections, the provincial health authority have gone through a meeting on how to manage their supplies during that period.
Ms Holden says, in order to support the strategies they came up with, the orders of medical supplies need to be provided upon request. Failure to do so would mean there will surely be a problem for them especially during the NGE period.
She says, there’s a possibility of an increase in the number of violence related cases that will be reported at the health center, but they are hoping that people will have a safe and fair free-violence election.
Ms Holden further stated that, with more focus on COVID-19 now, Measles and Rubella cases have emerged in the province.
Although, Western Highlands has completed 43% of the target population for the first dose of Measles, it has currently dropped back to 29% for the 2nd dose which is higher than the national average and shows evidence of a possible measles & rubella outbreak in the province.
The PHA CEO said, “Starting next Wednesday, we are looking at a strategy to target Measles and Rubella vaccines to try and get those numbers back up to avoid an outbreak in the province.”