Five days away from Christmas and the festive season is here now. During this time, city residents of Port Moresby are urged to take care of yourselves. Port Moresby General Hospital (POMGEN) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Paki Molumi extends this call to the public adding the hospital has seen a lot of trauma cases in past weeks. Dr Molumi is urging all residents to take extra care during this festive holidays. “POM GEN is the central hub that receives patients not only from NCD but parts of Gulf and the Central Province who come in to seek medical treatment and medical resources are short at this time that’s why everyone must look after themselves during this time.” "I further urge everyone to take care of themselves and avoid getting into unnecessary trouble or accidents as drugs and necessary medical supplies are short at this time."

A formal complaint will be laid at the Police Station by the Port Moresby General Hospital (POMGEN) due to the incident that occured over the weekend at the PMGH Emergency Ward by a drunken Defense Force personnel. According to Port Moresby General Hospital CEO Dr. Paki Molumi, the solder was under the influence of alcohol when he entered the Emergency Ward and demanded to be served. “But due to a lot of patients and not been served at his request, the solder threw a tantrum and destroyed one of the vital electronic machines used to measure patients’ blood pressure at the emergency ward.” Dr. Molumi said the soldier has been identified and will be dealt with accordingly by the PNG Defense Force. Molumi added that this is not the first time and a formal protest letter will be written to the Defense force regarding the issue. Meanwhile, as the festive season is coming near the general public are urged to take care of themselves during this time.

Since the last COVID-19 update given by the National Control Center, the number of cases in the National Capital District (NCD) has seen a decline. NCD Provincial Health Authority (PHA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Steven Yennie said that the statistics have declined rapidly because of the number of people getting the vaccine have increased. He said this is because all the health facilities in NCD are rolling out the vaccine for those who want to be vaccinated. “For vaccination, we got a very good coverage for vaccination in NCD. Our team is very active in terms of carrying out the COVID vaccinations in all our health facilities.” He said they have amalgamated all their COVID-19 vaccination programs into all the health facilities as COVID is part of life now in NCD and every health facility is carrying that out.   Although NCD had seen the highest number of COVID cases since the last report, Dr. Yennie is now happy that people are paying attention to the dangers of COVID and getting vaccinated. Meanwhile, Dr. Yennie is urging the public to be mindful of the COVID-19 protocols this festive season. this is because the festive period will see a lot of gatherings of people and that is a potential spreader of the virus. “Even though the mandatory masking protocol has been uplifted, everyone must take note of this and wear a mask if needed to avoid contracting the virus.”

A high-level team of specialist medical doctors from China, based at the Port Moresby General Hospital in the National Capital District, marked 20 years of their services in the country. The team of doctors specialized in minimal invasive surgical procedures have worked closely for the past 20 years with local doctors to serve the people of PNG with excellent medical skills and training. At the ceremony to mark the dedication and service of the Chinese Medical team, witnessed by the Health Secretary Dr. Osbourne Liko, and PMGH Chief Executive Officer Dr. Paki Molumi, Chinese Ambassador to PNG Zeng Fanhua said, the China medical team comprised of selected high-level medical staff based at the hospital who work closely with local colleagues to serve PNG people. “At the request of the PNG government, the Chinese government has been sending medical teams to PNG for 20 years now. And this is the 12th China medical team in the country.” He added that they are willing to continue such a successful cooperation and their embassy is negotiating the extension of this cooperation with the Department of Health and hopes to reach a consensus as soon as possible. National Department of Health Secretary Dr. Osbourne Liko said, the minimally invasive surgical procedures basically means that no major surgical operation (cutting the body open to operate) but with the newly donated medical instruments from the China Medical team and the Chinese Government, they will help a lot families to have quick recovery and short bed stays at the hospitals. “The Government of PNG really appreciates this relationship and partnership we have. And according to our health plan as alluded, Port Moresby General Hospital is the National Referral Teaching Hospital. And we must strengthen our health facilities with work force and skills, manpower training and high tech equipment like the ones donated by the China Medical team, so that our families won’t have to travel out to seek medical attending.” Captain of the 12th China Medical team Cheng Gang said, the instruments they donated include some conventional instruments and a series of minimally invasive surgical instruments including laparoscopic camera, stapler, trocar, ultrosonic scalpel, monopolar electro-coagulation hood and many more. Gang said, they will make the best of the center to carry out minimally invasive technology trainings and conduct online academic exchanges between PNG & China. “We will continue to work with our colleagues in PNG to safeguard the health of PNG people and strive to build a community of common health for mankind.”

One of the major undertakings of the government in the Education Sector is the full upgrade of the current school of Medicine and Health Sciences to be the new PNG University of Medicine and Health Sciences, says the Minsiter for Finance and Planning Rainbo Paita. This was announced when the 2023 budget was drawn out at parliament. "This is a project is a priority investment of this government and we have committed a total of K50 million to go towards the new PNG University of Medicine and Health Sciences, says Minister Paita." This when established will ensure increased number of doctors and medical professionals graduate and are engaged into the provincial and district health systems. The Education sector was allocated a total expenditure budget of K1.3 billion with the key priorities to live no child behind in the primary and secondary education, to increase the intake of tertiary students, build technical schools for TVET and to further opportunities with FODE. Minister Paita stressed that the Government Tuition Fee Subsidy(GTFS/TFF) has seen a significant increase in funding to continue the policy of paying project fees as well as school fees to ease the burden of parents every year. The government has allocated K766.4 million towards GTFS, K14.51 million to better curriculum development materials and K7.i million towards secondary school equipment. "While the government will continue to support the lower education subsidy programs, there is a need for our training institutions to be supported adequately to produce quality teachers in significant numbers to complement our lower education needs, said Minister Paita." He said they have allocated funding of K126 million to the higher education sector, particularly for teachers colleges and nursing colleges that are supporting the capacity of provincial and district hospitals. The other priority investments include: K46.1 million to go towards the improvements for Primary, Secondary and High schools • K10 million for School of excellence infrastructure programs •K56.6 million to be invested into TVET and trade skills education •K12 million to go towards Technical and business colleges and •K87 million to go towards investments for tertiary institutions infrastructure Minister Paita stated that there are about 36, 000 school leavers every year and the higher education system can only take 8, 000 of these school leavers(22%). "The government is also considering to introduce the Compulsory National Service to absorb these school leavers and instill discipline and mold respectful citizens for the future, said Minister Paita." In the medium term, they will also look into the viability of establishing and upgrading the current Pacific Institute of Leadership and Governance to a Public Service University that is dedicated to training future public servants directly from college.

The government has announced it will commence the construction of a 395 bed provincial hospital for the Central Province with an allocation of K50 million from the K258 million Provincial Health Authority Investment. The Minister for Finance and Planning Rainbo Paita said this when the 2023 Budget was drawn down at parliament yesterday afternoon. He said it is the first budget for the 11th parliament and is the largest budget in PNG’s history at K24.5 billion. Minister Paita said, boosting investments in the health and education sectors equates to a more productive society and a growing economy. “The health sector receives a total funding expenditure budget of K1.7 billion and a capital investment of K661.7 miillion, aimed to deliver quality health services and improve health infrastructure at all levels, says Paita.” The other priority investments in the Health sector includes: • PNG Medical University-K50million • National Specialist Hospital-K10million • Improving National health Systems and Capacities-K170.9million and • Addressing other major infectious diseases (Malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19)-K56.2 million He stressed that they are stepping up momentum in addressing the health needs of our rural people. And the government is committing K100 million to the development of provincial hospitals and K70 million to upgrading District Hospitals to a level-4 standard, said Paita.

The JICA Chair program on Japanese Modernization administered at the University of Papua New Guinea, for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding between JICA and UPNG on Wednesday this week. UPNG Vice-Chancellor Professor Frank Griffin said, the program was on and off but with the official signing of the MoU at the UPNG Council room between UPNG and JICA they will now be consistent and ensure activities are delivered. “With this formalization process this allows us to engage in a more active way to assist one another’s interest in making sure that what is contained in the activities that need to be drawn up are blessed by this document.” “We are very delighted to be part of this formalization process because it now gives all the schools within the University the opportunity to look at their own capacity building processes through this modernization course.” Professor Griffin said that this also allows a joint collaboration between the two parties in terms of academic work, research and people-to-people contact that may take place across the two countries. "There are a lot of MoU’s that people sign but are not management properly and nothing happens. But for us here at UPNG, we want this to be an active MoU so that we meet our targets to deliver the courses to the students and the students gain from it." He also mentioned that wherever the University of Papua New Guinea operates, the JICA Chair program will also be applied there. Meanwhile, Chief Representative, JICA PNG office Mr. Masato Koinuma said, approximately 150 students have completed the short seven intensive video lectures delivered at the school. “In the short term, I hope students will learn about the experience of Japan, and in the long term, hope they will contribute to nation-building of PNG in various ways.” He added that, this MOU is a symbol of friendship between PNG and Japan. “We hope this can promote educational cooperation and better cultural understanding between us as we pursue further our common interest further.”

The Papua New Guinean University of Technology’s (PNGUOT) Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Association hosted a mental health awareness program last week. Mental health is very important as it includes one's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how one thinks, feel, and act. It also helps determine how they handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through to adulthood Director of Society of Women Engineer Association Ms. Philomena Fowler said since the establishment of the association last year, they have been carrying out mental health awareness programs in the school but then realized that their awareness services were much needed outside in the communities. She also added that completing high school and secondary school education and moving into the tertiary level can be quite a handful and put mental pressure on the young people. “One of the first lesson for students to learn is “Self-Discipline.” There will be a lot of distractions along the way like peer-pressure, entertainment, school work and family, but students must try their best to maintain self-discipline and always remember where you come from.” Fowler said these are challenging times which contribute to one’s mental health, but all should stay focused. Meanwhile, Ms. Fowler said for those students who don’t make it into any tertiary institutions, they must not give up because there’s always a way. “There’s a lot out there and students must not give up because there’s always another way. And always maintain your mental health because it is important. As you continue to go higher into the level of your education it becomes more stressful," said Fowler.

Over 200 midwives across the country kicked off the PNG Midwifery Society 4th national symposium that will run for 3days with the theme: “Impact of Covid-19 on maternal New-born and Child Health.” The future of this country depends on good healthy people and that all comes down to our health system and health workers as human resource is the most important resource of any country. PNG Midwifery Society Interim President Sr. Mary Sitaing said the sole purpose of this symposium is to bring together midwifes to equip them with the growing knowledge and skills to tackle the number of maternal mortality rates in the country. “I think we’ve done really well. In the last few years our maternal mortality rate was 733 per hundred thousand but it has gone down. And that shows that there's a lot of work being put in to midwifery schools to develop and up skill our midwives in the country.” Sr. Sitaing said, even though this number has gone down for the country, our maternal mortality rate in the country is still high compared to other Pacific nations. Officially opening the symposium, Health Minister Dr. Lino Tom said, PNG has one of the worst statistics in the Western Pacific region. "In terms of the maternal mortality rate, we have about 171 per hundred thousand, 20 deaths per thousand and 40% of supervised deliveries which is quite low." He also stated that, family planning will be one of his major priorities in his 100-day plan, saying that the population growth has outgrown the country’s ability to provide for its people. He says unless and until the country has some major economic activity happening, the population growth rate must be cut down. “The law and order situations and social issues we have is because the bulk of the youth are restoring to bizarre ways of actually expressing themselves because we cannot engage them anymore." "There are not enough institutions to cater for the young people. We have not created enough jobs." Other priorities in Dr Tom’s 100-day plan includes looking at increasing the health workforce, improving health workers' working conditions, strengthening the systems of governance in the health system and the drugs and medical supply issue. And with this world moving forward into the Tech World, Dr. Tom wants a digitalized health system so that people will know who is holding what positions to address the issue of people not working but still being paid, especially those holding positions in the rural areas but spending more time in urban areas rather than working.

Ahead of their Women’s Rugby League World Cup match against Australia, the PNG Santos Orchids Captain Elsie Albert said the girls are reallly excited and nervous at the same time, as this would be their first ever semi-final world cup match on Tuesday 15th at 3am PNG time, in York. “We’re pretty much excited because were going up against Australia in the semi-finals, says Albert.” As one of the NRLW based players, Elsie has encouraged her team mates to stay focus as they approach their semi-final match against Australia’s Jillaroos during one off their training sessions. “The best thing I’d say to them is that the pressure is on the Aussie side because they’re the world champs and going into the semis, everyone is expecting us to loose, so going in as the ‘Under Dogs’, we just have to get in there and play the best we can and keep our heads up, says Albert.” Santos PNG Orchids Center Belinda Gwasamun said, this is a very big achievement for the PNG ladies compared to the last world cup where the team did not win any of their games and we are happy to have won 2 of our matches and are now into the semis. Gwasamun said, one of the things she learnt from their match against England was communication on field. “We need to communicate properly especially when the game is brought back on our defense line, other than that, I am really excited because we have come this far, says Gwasamun” Gwasamun also thanked PNG as a whole for the support. “Because of your support, we have made it this far. Even though we lost our last game, we can still feel the energy and support from miles away and we are very happy for that”.

The 2022 Paws Walk hosted by RSPCA is an annual event staged to bring together Dog Lovers and many participants especially families, for a walk around Ela Beach to raise funds for their educational awareness programs and the sheltered animals they have at the RSPCA pound and clinic. RSPCA’s Administration Manager Karen Swale said the walk started at 7am Saturday morning and all though there were not many participants as expected there was still a good turn out and the walk still pushed through. Swale said, due to COVID, they have put a pause to their events especially the annual end-of-year Dog Show. “We were hoping to combine the annual Dog Show event with the Paws Walk but due to limited participants, we only had the Paws Walk”. The RSPCA has postponed all their annual events due to COVID and other reasons but are hoping for bigger and better show next year. She is also appealing to the general public to participate in their annual events by registering with them because all funds raised are for a worthy cause. “All who participate in our events that we host, it all goes to our educational program that we do in-and –around Port Moresby three times a week for the entire school year and the adoption and shelter of our animals. She added that the more participants they have, the better for the community.

The 2022 Eastern Papua Cup (EPC) kicked off its annual tournament with games and a reconciliation and peace ceremony for the fight that happened on Kiriwina Island and to also respect the fallen members of EPC Association over the last 2 years. EPC President Dr. Linus Digim’rina said that the initial kick-off for the senior men’s & women’s games started off yesterday, 12th Saturday November, with a total of 39 teams registered. The tournament will run for 5weeks at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) oval. “We have registered 39 teams from the 16 clubs already, but I won’t be surprised if we end up with 40 or 41 teams by the end of this weekend or next weekend because one or two are still rolling in.” Dr. Digim’rina said the UPNG Administration, allowed them to book the field for 5 weekends of their games. He said with two years of postponed games due to COVID, they are excited and feeling anxious for this year’s tournament. “We are excited because when we put out the notice for the EPC games to be hosted this year, we saw a lot of excitement going around on social media. We were anxious because of the payment deadlines we set up, but so far there was a good turn out and we’re excited for this.” Dr. Digim’rina also mentioned that as part of their reconciliation and peace ceremony, they are raising funds as a contribution towards the people who suffered from the fight that happened back on the island to support them in areas like health and food supply. “Anyone who sets up a market-stall pays a fee of K50 per day, which goes toward the fundraising drive for the people back home. We are also appealing to anyone who is interested to donate and be part of this drive to help assist our people who have suffered from this unfortunate incident back home. ”