Health issues are insurmountable anywhere in this world . All nations have issues peculiar to them and their standards of living.
Health can also be seen as a general Economic Indicator, according to Health Minister, Dr. Lino Tom who says PNG on all fronts is struggling to reach its targets.
“We have a good health plan and hopefully all stakeholders do their part so we reach our targets by 2030. All plans are only as good as the funding they require and off course implementation on the part of the department.”
Since 2020, the health sector has seen an increase in its budget by about 30%. Even then, Dr. DR Lino says it’s not the ideal level that the health department envisage but in terms of appropriation per sector, the health sector has gotten the biggest slice, thanks to Prime Minister James Marape and Treasurer Ian Ling Stuckey.
“However, we will still face a shortfall of over K120 million for medical supplies from outstanding arrears over the last few years. In order to address this issue, we will have to source the cheapest options in our region without compromising quality.”
The only way to do this will be to go into State to State Agreements so that the health sector can deal straight with the factories and get the lowest price possible at least for basic drugs and supplies, says Dr Lino. He added that this approach is supported by WHO and other development agencies.
“Our SMEs and businesses can supply the nonessential medical consumables. Our people must not suffer at the expense of profiteering enterprises. Health services must be affordable to everyone regardless, as envisaged by our Government.”
Dr Lino has addressed the rise of lifestyle diseases stating that the four biggest killers are Cancer; Heart Diseases with Stroke and Kidney diseases. A fully functional Intervention Cardiology Unit has been established to address heart and other Ischaemic diseases like stroke.
It is now doing very complex cases only done in highly specialized centres throughout the world. He also said that new specialized theatres must be built to complement this service.