PORT Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) is strengthening its workforce through specialised training to prepare local health professionals for the phased introduction of services at its Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
The training will equip medical physicists, radiation therapists and other health professionals with the skills needed to operate advanced cancer treatment technology.
The official opening of the PMGH Cancer ARIA Oncology Information System (OIS) training was held yesterday at the Flowtint Training Centrein Waigani, marking an important step towards improving cancer treatment services in Papua New Guinea.
Flowtint Group director Carl Adams said the training was necessary to ensure local staff could safely operate the centre’s sophisticated equipment and digital systems.
“The whole centre only runs based on the computerisation, the software that will be installed,” Mr Adams said.
He said more than US$2.5 million had been spent on software alone, making it essential for local health workers to understand how the systems operated to ensure patients received safe and accurate treatment.
“At the end of the day, though, it’s just a facility. At the end of the day, it’s just technology. What is going to make the success of that facility is the human being,” he said.
Mr Adams said the training would include simulated treatment environments, software instruction and ongoing professional development to maintain service standards as technology advanced.
Secretary for Health Pascoe Kase said the Health Department was responsible for ensuring institutions providing health training complied with the required standards.
“On behalf of the government and the Health Department, all training institutions that are training in health, the Health Department has a responsibility to make sure that they follow certain requirements,” Mr Kase said.
He said the department’s technical team had visited the facility and was working through the formal requirements.
PMGH chief executive Dr Molumi said staff had received training in countries including Sri Lanka, China and Australia, and the new facility would allow them to work together through practical simulation exercises.
The centre is expected to expand access to cancer treatment in PNG and reduce the need for patients to travel overseas for specialised care.