Prime Minister (PM) James Marape, officially opened the East Sepik Provincial Specialist Hospital recently in Wewak, East Sepik Province. According to PM Marape, the National Government made a decision to build provincial hospitals around the country in the 22 Provinces and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. "We made that decision after COVID-19 shutdown the country and revealed to us that we had only 44 beds with inbuilt oxygen valves in the whole country. Another thing was that Health and the economy go hand in hand; therefore in 2022, we gave more funding to the health sector. "PM Marape stated that in the 2022 Budget, his government also increased funding for education infrastructure and roads that will contribute towards reducing the time people use to travel to their nearest health facilities.” Today we have more than 300 contractors working in road construction, health infrastructure development and education.” "Modern Health care is an entitlement for our people and a security for our economy." The Specialist Hospital is an asset for not only the people of East Sepik, but also the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition to that, the National Government has already allocated K15 million to start work on staff housing so that specialist doctors can be brought in to work at the hospital. The PM further added that he has brought in another K5 million for the hospital to start work on a seawall to protect the state asset from rising sea levels and another K3 million for the Provincial Government to start feasibility studies on alternate sources of energy (power) supply. Marape said that the government will now work on sourcing cheap loans to ensure all the other provinces can have hospitals that are built to standards like the East Sepik Provincial Specialist Hospital. By doing so, PM Marape said he does not want to pass on the development burden to the next generation. He also urged the people to trust that his government is not taking out loans that will make the country so indebted with no way to pay back the loan. “We getting loans to invest in infrastructures and assets like this that will carry the country.” PM Marape placed on record his acknowledgement of the contributions and work made by the former O'Neill Government on the Specialist hospital. He also thanked the contractor, VAMED, for working through challenges like during the COVID-19 pandemic.