About 20 people affected and in need of medical attention at Dilava – Goilala, Central province
By HARLYNE JOKU
WHILE the recent Saki landslide disaster has been attended to by authorities, people in the nearby village of Dilava are suffering from a strange disease which is numbing the limbs (arms and legs) of the sick in the Goilala district, Central province.
At least 20 people have been affected and in need of medical attention according to a village community leader, Cyril Simana.
“We are experiencing some kind of sickness where people’s joints are not working. They cannot move their hands and legs. They can only lie down or sit down. Maybe it is TB, I don’t know,” Mr Simana told Sunday Bulletin on Wednesday, Jan 13.
Dilava is a remote hamlet of about 1,000 people in the Woitape LLG, Goilala district of the Central province.
Mr Simana called on the National and Provincial Health authorities to immediately send a medical team to the area to help and diagnose the sick people there.
Mr Simana said he is organizing a helicopter charter to bring in nine more people suffering similar symptoms to Port Moresby.
In the middle of last year Mr Simana said he assisted a woman and nine others displaying symptoms of the disease.
Mr Simana said he has paid four helicopter charters so far to assist the woman and the rest of the 10 in the past three months to seek medical assistance totally about K9, 000. He showed the Sunday Bulletin a copy of the receipt of the charter.
Dilava village is a day’s walk from the nearest health centre in Woitape, Goilala. There is no road access because of the difficult terrain of steep gorges and fast flowing rivers. Dilava is also 15 kilometers from the Saki where the recent landlside disaster area and; a day’s walk from the former Tolukuma Gold Mine.
Mr Simana made a special trip to Port Moresby on a helicopter charter this week to bring to the attention of health and provincial authorities the plight of the sick there and to fly the victims into Port Moresby to receive medical attention.
Mr Simana urged the national and provincial government to build a health centre at Dilava to assist sick people there because it is inaccessible by road.
He said if the authorities cannot build a health centre then they must fly in health officers to conduct clinics on a monthly basis; and subsidies helicopter airfares which is very expensive.
Mr Simana further called on the National Government and Central Provincial Government to subsidize helicopter charters for health purposes.
“This will help us in the remote areas not accessible by road to travel into Port Moresby to seek medical attention,” he said.
Mr Simana is the first person to inform this newsroom about the Saki landslide disaster which happened three weeks ago killing nine people.
More updates on this story to follow.