Service delivery, specialized staff and management, infrastructure, funding and the capacity to accommodate patients are some of the major challenges that Laloki Psychiatric Hospital in Port Moresby is currently facing.
Laloki hospital, which is a designated Level 6 health facility, is barely operating at the standard level due to the many challenges it is facing.
In terms of patient care, drug supply is also a major issue under the service delivery as often times, families of patients are advised by the hospital staff to buy the prescribed medication they need, however, are quite costly.
Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Laloki Psychiatric Hospital, Doctor Daoni Esorom, stated that the hospital has been going through a lot of these challenges since the Mental Health Act 2015 was passed in 2015 and certified on the 9th of February 2016.
“The hospital has been overlooked in terms of funding and maintenance of the infrastructure and the physical state of the hospital has deteriorated rendering most of the buildings in the hospital to be condemned in which has been declared unfit.”
Laloki is the only psychiatric hospital in the country which needs urgent action and a major restructuring of the hospital. According to Dr Daoni, a hospital assessment and survey was done in October last year, where it revealed that Laloki is operating at Level 3; however, is barely operating at that level though it is a designated Level 6 health facility.
A total of six areas were assessed and surveyed including Patient Care standards, Leadership and Management standards, Human Resources Management, Management Information Systems, Environment and Mandatory Standards and Performance Improvement.
“Out of the survey the total outcome stands at 26% which is a major problem. The total score, which is 26%, is way below 60% whereas 60% is the accepted level of satisfactory National Health Service Standards.”
“The hospital needs major restructuring to increase its workforce, major infrastructure improvement and construction of new infrastructure. The urgent actions include, development of a corporate governance framework, development of clinical governance framework, service improvement plan, clinical service plan and a master plan for Laloki.”
Meanwhile, Director of Medical Services, Doctor Ludwig Nanawar, stated that drug supplies are a big issue for the patients.
Under the National Drug Catalogue, they get most of these specialized drugs from the Area Medical Stores, however, some of the specialized drugs needed are not in the catalogue; therefore, they have to purchase them elsewhere such as pharmacies, and with that is a challenge as it goes back to funding.
Funding is an ongoing issue whereas when the hospital is unable to provide the medical drugs, families of patients then purchase the prescribed medication themselves, which is quite expensive and, in most cases, are unable to purchase.
“A medical drug that the hospital needs the most is called Benzhexol. This is used to counter the side effects of the medications that we use to treat mental illnesses. However, with the limited supply here, we give written prescriptions for families to buy if they can afford and if not, we just observe them and according to how they react, we give them if we need to with the limited supply we have.”
Despite the challenges, Dr Ludwig said that the recovery rate is high as long as the patients take the right amount of dose as instructed by the specialized doctor and taken on time as well.
The hospital currently has a total of 54 patients including seven females.
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