Mt Hagen Hospital received an early Christmas present in mid-December when Trukai Industries donated a tonne of rice to feed its in-patients.

The company which produces quality rice such as trukai, roots, jasmine and sunlong delivered 100 bags of 10kg roots rice to the hospital on Monday, 15th December 2014.

This was the third time Trukai had made such a donation to the hospital. In the last two years, the company had made similar donations to help feed the patients.

Trukai’s Regional Sales Manager for the Highlands, Mr. Jacob Areke said when presenting the rice that such donation would become a yearly event every Christmas.

“This is the third year running and we will continue to give rice to the hospital every year to feed its patients.

“We get many letters asking for donations but we only look at the needy areas and Mt Hagen Hospital is one area which needs such help so we have decided to donate this rice”, Mr. Areke said.

Chief Executive Officer of the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, Dr. James Kintwa was available in person to receive the rice on behalf of the hospital.

He said the WHPHA had a responsibility to provide breakfast and dinner for in-patients every day, costing thousands of kina and the donation was a big help to reduce some of this cost.

“We have an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent or over 300 patients at any one time and costs us between K500,000 – K600,000 every year to feed them.

“You are helping us to reduce our costs but more importantly you are taking ownership to look after our sick people and we encourage private entities to help in whatever way they can”, he said.

Dr. Kintwa said this gesture of support from the community and business houses was helping to reduce the organization’s operational costs and he thanked Trukai and other companies and individuals for their continued support over the years.