Health & HIV/AIDS Minister, Hon Jelta Wong and Secretary for Health, Dr Osborne Liko made a brief visit to Mt Hagen Hospital last Friday, 29th January 2021.
The Minister and his Departmental Head stopped over at the hospital on their way to Port Moresby from Kurumul in Jiwaka Province where they officially opened the new Jiwaka Provincial Health Authority building on Wednesday, 27th January.
Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority Chief Executive Officer, David Vorst and his senior medical officers, Dr Benjamin Yapo, Dr Jonah Kurubi, Dr Joseph Kuk and Dr Timmy Tingnee were on hand to welcome and brief them on the hospital operations.
The medical officers took Minister Wong and Secretary Liko to the Emergency Department and the Operating Theatre and briefed them on the operational issues faced by these facilities and other sections of the hospital before they left for Port Moresby.
The doctors also told them that plans for the redevelopment of Mt Hagen Hospital on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement were all ready and that as soon as the necessary funds were made available, work would begin on a new site close to the city.
There are at least two possible sites that have been identified, both state land, and as soon as negotiations with the current lease holders are complete and an agreement reached with one of them, work should begin.
