PNG crippled by COVID

PORT MORESBY, (THE AUSTRALIAN) - COVID’s Delta strain is overwhelming Papua New Guinea’s fragile health system, forcing the closure of Port Moresby’s only public hospital to non-critical care and sparking emergency oxygen deliveries to the remote highlands.

Port Moresby General Hospital — where only 10 per cent of nurses are vaccinated — issued a bulletin this week announcing a “scaling down of services”, including the suspension of all elective surgery and GP consultations.

The hospital’s chief executive, Paki Molumi, said 61 per cent of patients presenting at the hospital with flu-like symptoms were testing positive for COVID-19.

“The third (Delta) wave is hitting most parts of the country. This is the worst phase of the crisis,” Dr Molumi said.

With just 0.2 per cent of PNG’s population currently vaccinated, the Delta strain of the virus is now spreading unchecked across the impoverished country, which is Australia’s nearest neighbour.

Earlier in the week, the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health

Authority put out an emergency call for more oxygen supplies and 100 extra hospital beds, as it was swamped by COVID patients.

But with only 191,000 tests conducted nationally, the nation’s health authorities are unsure of the true extent of the crisis.

“We have a low rate of testing so we are not clear about the level of the pandemic,” Dr Molumi said.

“And also the vaccination rates are very low, and that has put healthcare providers under great stress. We cannot predict what numbers we will expect the next day, or the day after that.”

Dr Molumi said vaccine hesitancy was rampant, driven by social media disinformation.