THE UPNG Southern Highlands Student Union, led by their medical students, has raised an estimated K150, 000.00 in their first fundraising event towards their initiative to purchase a CT scanner for Mendi General Hospital.
Under the theme, “Ask not what Southern Highlands can do for you, but what you can do for Southern Highlands”, a personal take on the prominent quote by John F Kennedy, the Southern Highlands Student Union and the SHP Medical Students Association have worked with the Mendi Provincial Hospital to launch the fundraising for a CT scanner that costs close to K2 – K2.5 million.
The UPNG SHP Student Union President, Jonathan Kila, who is one of the many UPNG students who were born at the Mendi General Hospital, has a personal as well as collective interest in ensuring they raise the adequate funds to purchase the scanner.
In his opening remarks he asked the audience to ‘come live the dream with us’.
“This dream is to restore a higher standard in providing a quality health system to not only the people of Southern Highlands but all of the Highlands who depend on the Mendi General Hospital.”
The success of the fundraising dinner saw the donation and pledging of up to K106, 000.00, a combination of donations from both corporate and individual donors.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop who attended and spoke as an informal speaker, pledged K20, 000 in donation and gave K2, 000 on the night as his personal support towards the cause.
“More than three quarters of our people who are dying in this country are dying from preventable death, simply because the service is inadequate.
“The task of delivering services to the length and breadth of our country is a principle responsibility of the government, but as we all know the government does not always deliver. So I commend you students for taking up the initiative to raise funds for a CT scan to support the hospital up in Mendi.”
The SHP Medical Student Association have set their preliminary goal of ending 2023 with equipping the Mendi Provincial Hospital with its most deprived resources. They informed the donors, as well as the public, that the initiative is essential in sustaining our human resource by ensuring that a better health care system is provided.
“Statistically, about more than 15 patients, who require diagnosis via CT scanning have the equipment such as Kundiawa and Port Moresby. Of which, about 75% of the patients are subsistence farmers. Given their financial status, some either die in the process of getting properly diagnosed or stay home and await the inevitable moment.”
Dr. Paki Molumi, a key note speaker of the event, expressed similar concerns and ensured the students of Southern Highlands that their efforts are very necessary in building and improving the radiology department of the provincial hospital.
“My dream is to ensure that no one has to travel out of this country to seek medical services. The radiology service is a very highly technical area, we begin with the basic radiology service, which is the X-rays, ultrasound scanners and fluoroscopies and then above that is the CT scanner, the MRI, the interventional radiology services and the catalepsy services.”
“This event tonight is a big call to improve the radiology services of Southern Highlands, I am working closely with Dr. Birisi, the CEO of the Southern Highlands Provincial Health Authority and his executive team to ensure that the program is sustainable most importantly, so it’s a very highly technical area, but we will make sure that we get to that stage of providing the best radiology service as well as CT scan.”
Molumi said that they are also working with DataCo to allow for some services provided at POMGEN to be delivered to Mendi General Hospital. This will not only help to improve the standard of service but also provide access to these services that most would have to travel to Port Moresby to receive.
Dr. Martin Savu, the Director of Medical Services at the Mendi General Hospital, who stepped in to speak on his behalf of Dr. Birisi who was not able to attend on the night, also congratulated the students and expressed the gratitude of the staff and management of the provincial hospital in this commendable initiative.
The night ended with the official launching of the trust account under the name UPNG SHP Medical Student Union Medical Equipment, with Dr. Paki Molumi as the principle signatory, and Dr. Martin Savu, the UPNG SHP Medical Students Association President Felix David, UPNG SHP Student Union President Jonathan Kila, and UPNG SHP Medical Students Association Secretary Elijah Sap as general signatories to ensure transparency and accountability of the donations.