Today has been a land mark day for Mt Hagen General Hospital campus with the commissioning of the second new 550KVA generator and a southern cross water pump. 

Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority’s (WHPHA) acting Chief Executive officer Jane Holden says Power and Water are two fundamental resources for running an Hospital.

She says the new 550KVA generator will power the hospital campus 24/7 when required while the Southern Cross Water Pump will increase water pressure in all the wards , departments and the entire hospital campus as well.

The new 550KVA will replace the old and existing 350KVA generator and support the 500KVA generator to supply the provincial hospital power in the event of blackouts.

The frequent blackouts in the District have recently affected the supply of power to the Provincial hospital and the risks of damaging expensive medical is too are high.

The hospital was than running on two generators every day ,the 500 KVA and 350 KVA however ,both are old especially the 350KVA .
With the new 550 KVA installed now , the campus will be powered by both the 500 and 550KVA.

The PHA thanks the National Department of Health (NDOH) for allocating the Capital funds to support the hospital and the local contractor , Massip Engineering and Consultant Ltd for delivering the project.

Meanwhile, Paying for the generator diesel is one of the challenges the PHA is facing. This is not funded in the operational budget and expect at the current rate to exceed some K1.5m this year on diesel costs.

However, while the health and safety of every patience and staff still remain the PHA’s priority concern, it is very important that the hospital must have power and water up and running.