By JOE GURINA
THE opening of a new health facility at Edevu, in Koiari local level government constituent in Central marks a positive milestone for the communities in the area to have access to improved health care and well being.
Speaking during the opening of the Edevu aidpost facility earlier this month, Hiri Koiari district health manager Philip Vagi highlighted the importance of the roles and responsibilities of health facilities placed in communities.
“Today marks an important milestone for the people of Edevu. The milestone represents, commitment, hope and shared determination to bring services closer to the community.”
“A community health is better to educate children, support families in economic activities, ensuring human resource is healthy to engage in economic activities,” he said.
Mr Vagi said the facility has the potential to support immunization, antenatal care for mothers, child health, health education, disease prevention, nutrition services and early identification of patients before getting worse.
He said necessary administration and processes will be pursued wiith relevant authoritys to have the health facility registered and recorgnised through appropriate health authorities.
“As a district health manager, I wish to assure the community that the Hiri Koiari district health services will work with the Central Province Health Authority and the National Department of Health (NDoH) as required to progress the necessary requirements to have the facility fully registered,” he said.
He said the processes are important to ensure the facility meet applicable standard for infrastructure, staffing, service delivery, patient safety, infection control and health reporting system.
He said the responsibility for improving health services does not rest with the government alone.
“It requires partnership between community, ward leadership, LLG, district administration, Central Province Health Authority (CPHA), provincial government, churches and the development partners.
He called on he Edevu ward development committees to take ownership of the facility and strongly stressed against vandalism on the facility.