DALCY LULUA
Member for Wabag and Minister for Health Dr Lino Tom emphasized that there must be a proper staff structure before building infrastructure development.
This was his response to a supplementary question raised by the Member for Goroka Aiye Tambua.
Mr Tambua questioned the Health Minister as to when they can fully utilize the new hospital that was built in Goroka.
“the hospital is sitting like an idol, it’s like an elephant in the town. We have no staff to maintain that hospital because of
technical issues within the Department and Treasury.
Minister Tom said It’s a very good question as it actually illustrates the current problem; the acute shortage of health workers.
“This is one of the policies I am actually trying to drive before we embark on big infrastructures projects, we have to make sure that the Clinical Services Planner (CSP) are in place and are approved by the Provincial Health Authorities (PHAs).
What that means is that, there must be structure in place before we start building infrastructure, if you are making good facility and if there are no staff, it will be like the new hospital in Goroka,” he added.
He said, “It’s the same problem with the new Enga Hospital, it’s a good facility being built but to get the appropriate staff to really make that hospital work would be a problem.”
Health Minister stressed that before we start building new facilities in our districts or provinces we have to make sure that it is being done in collaboration with the PHAs.
“If the PHA tells you that there’s no position for those facilities, don’t go ahead and build because you going to waste money.
Before you start embarking on any projects, it’s always important to make sure that there are part of the CSP. If the CSP reflects that facility, that means that,
there are funded positions for that facility so you can go ahead and start constructing those facilities,” he said.
He said that because of the political demands placed on us, we want to make our supporters happy, we are going ahead and building facilities without approval from the Health Department and the PHAs.
“it must come with the approval from the PHA and the Health Department because once that’s done, we have staff already there ready to facilitate or ready to actually carry out operations of those facilities that you build.
I’ve addressed the issue of Goroka Hospital with the management and hopefully they get to create positions to fill those positions quickly,” Minister said.
Meanwhile, he strongly suggested to the National Executive Council (NEC) that before we start building new facilities, we must make sure that the staff structure for those facilities are approved and funded by Department of Treasury.
