The Health Minister of Papua New Guinea Sasa Zibe says a new Pacific Medical Centre in the Central Province will be the most significant health investment in the country.
Plans for the new hospital are gaining momentum after cabinet endorsed the project, submitted by a team of doctors and management officials from Stanford University and Loma Linda University Medical Centers in the United States.
Mr Zibe says it will also house a team of specialists with the hope that people will be discouraged from seeking such medical care overseas.
He says medical professionals from across the country will receive additional training as part of the project.
"The focus it will do is also provide the tertiary treatment; tertiary treatment that is not available. Right now we have urban centres. They will have secondary treatment. This will become a referal and a training institute. The referral of secondary treatment to tertiary treatment."
Sasa Zibe says construction of the project will begin early next year and its cost of 374 million US dollars will be met through both the government and private investors.
