Prime Minister summons heads of the Health Sector

Prime Minister James Marape has summoned health officials to a meeting on Friday to resolve the labor ward fiasco.

The Health Secretary, Dr. Osborne Liko, Minister for Health, Elias Kapavore, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Justin Tkatachenko, Port Moresby General Hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Paki Molumi, and Chief Dr. Glen Mola.

This follows concerns raised on social media over the lack of bed space in the country's major referral hospital's labor ward.

The recent in-house brawl over the funding for the Port Moresby General Hospital labor ward capacity has reached the attention of the Prime Minister.

In a statement last night, he acknowledged the funding from the Japanese government to refurbish and expand the Labour Ward at Port Moresby General Hospital. He explained that the delay occurred because the hospital management had not approved the project.

Prime Minister Marape stressed that the hospital was built for 200 thousand people but the increase in population to a million needs an urgent intervention.

The issue of overcrowding and mother's sleeping on the floor has been a recurring problem that prompted the Head of the Gynecology Department at the University of Papua New Guinea's Medical Faculty, Dr. Glen Mola who took to social media expressing his concern.

Prime Minister Marape affirmed there is no doubt about the concerns raised by Dr. Mola, stating that if he identifies a crisis, it requires immediate attention.

He summoned all relevant stakeholders involved in this matter to meet with him on Friday, underlining the need for professionalism in handling international development partnerships.