The Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority (WHPHA) is a well-managed organisation, providing quality health services for the people of Western Highlands, according to a leading businessman.
Mr Pat Duckworth, Managing Director of Tininga Group of Companies in Mt Hagen said as such, organisations such as his were willing to help the organisation when in need so that the people of Western Highlands could benefit from its services.
He was speaking when making a pledge to meet the cost of airfares and accommodation for several children with heart problems and their guardians and a clinician to travel to Port Moresby for open heart surgery.
Mr Duckworth and his wife Margie made the pledge while observing visiting paediatric cardiologists, Dr Cornelia Kilalang and Dr Diana Olita’a screening children with heart problems at Mt Hagen Hospital’s Loo Pok Heart Clinic on 24th September 2020.
For the first time this year, Tininga has also paid for the travel and accommodation costs for Dr Kilalang and Dr Olita’a, both from the Port Moresby General Hospital to fly to Mt Hagen to screen the children.
The National Department of Health would normally pay for Dr Kilalang’s annual visits to provinces to screen paediatric patients with heart problems but this year her visits had been cancelled due to the restrictions on travel imposed as a result of the corona virus pandemic.
However, following the easing of the travel restrictions recently, the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority had asked her to visit Mt Hagen because of a backlog of cardiac patients from Western Highlands and Jiwaka that needed to be screened urgently and Tininga had offered to meet the cost.
Mr and Mrs Duckworth said assisting the WHPHA with its heart patient project was one way of giving something back to the community where it operated because it would benefit more people in the province.
“Tininga has been assisting the WHPHA with its heart patient project for several years now and is pleased to help and make a difference in the lives of the children who are the future generation of this country”, they said.
Mt Hagen Hospital organises the screening and does the costing for travel and accommodation for the patients and their guardians as well as a clinician to accompany them to Port Moresby and Tininga meets these costs which in this case is over K30,000.
Tininga has not only provided financial assistance for the heart project but others as well such as the setting up of the Well Women’s Clinic and the Covid-19 preparedness in the province and the WHPHA Management was very happy for its continued support.
Chief Executive Officer, David Vorst said he appreciated Tininga’s recognition of the services his organisation provided and thanked Mr and Mrs Duckworth for stepping in once more to help fund the cost of sending paediatric patients to Port Moresby for open heart surgery.
Chairman of the WHPHA Board of Governance, Mr David Guinn said he was pleased to see partners such as Tininga recognising the services that were provided and stepping in to donate for a worthy cause.
More than 90 paediatric patients had been booked to see the heart specialists over a two-day period but only 60 had turned up with 39 of them screened on the first day – 31 from Western Highlands, seven from Jiwaka and one from Southern Highlands Province.
