The National St John Ambulance (NStJA) has successfully completed the first two of five scheduled Basic Emergency Care (BEC) courses in Papua New Guinea (PNG), including two train-the-trainer programs. These sessions, conducted over four days at Port Moresby General Hospital, have trained more than 20 BEC facilitators, marking a significant step in strengthening emergency care capacity in the country. These courses are being delivered as part of the Regional Emergency and Critical Care Systems Strengthening Initiative (RECSI), which is funded by the Australian Government. NStJA is facilitating BEC course rollout in PNG alongside other stakeholders. The BEC course was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM). It is designed for frontline providers of emergency care and is intended to support a safe and structured approach to managing the acutely ill and injured. NStJA Chief Medical Officer, Dr Mangu Kendino, said delivering these training courses was a milestone for PNG. “The BEC course is an important tool for up skilling frontline healthcare workers and building an effective emergency care system. This training will help improve outcomes for patients who are acutely ill or injured. “National St John Ambulance is delighted to be able to coordinate this training on behalf of the RECSI program, and with the support of the Australian Government. It has been a truly collaborative effort, which will help strengthen emergency healthcare provision across the country. We are particularly grateful to Port Moresby General Hospital for hosting this first series of training courses. This collaboration demonstrates the important connection between pre-hospital care delivered in the community, and facility-based care delivered in clinics and hospitals.” The BEC courses are being led by Papua New Guinean BEC Master Trainers Dr Frederick Koha and Dr Clementine Goimba from Mendi, who were themselves trained by the ICRC. The first cohort of participants includes 50 health workers from 13 provinces. Within Port Moresby, there are staff from Port Moresby General Hospital, Gerehu General Hospital and NStJA. Seven NStJA staff will complete BEC training, with NStJA nurses Idana Enai and Ipi Noppy to become Master Trainers. Along with the other clinicians completing the train-the-trainer course, they will be able to teach BEC throughout PNG to improve emergency care. To help lead and coordinate this effort, the National Department of Health’s Chief of Emergency Medicine, Dr Desmond Aisi, will also become a Master Trainer. More courses are planned to be delivered under the RECSI program in Mt Hagen (later in 2025) and Rabaul (in 2026). In the meantime, health workers trained through the initial series of courses in Port Moresby will be implementing the training within their own healthcare facilities. Congratulations to the recent graduates.