Mt Hagen Hospital, Papua New Guinea's third-largest, has run out of drugs and medical supplies as a nationwide drug shortage cripples hospitals around the country. Photo: EMTV
Papua New Guinea's third-largest hospital hopes a nation wide drug shortage will be resolved next week, now the government has stepped in.
Mt Hagen hospital ran out of supplies last weekend, and doctors have been turning away some patients and treating others without basic drugs or supplies.
The hospital's deputy chief executive, David Vorst, said the Department of Health had not provided funding or replenished supplies at adequate levels for years.
But this week, as a nation wide drug crisis hit, the government's chief secretary, Isaac Lupari, said new tenders had been arranged which should address the crisis.
Mr Vorst said the hospital has managed to scrape together some money to get extra supplies, which should start to arrive from next week.
"The stocks will start flowing and I expect that will happen for probably four or five days before we're completely restocked and there now appears to be tenders at a national level sorted out so that what we're doing - hopefully - is only a bridging thing where we're buying stuff until the central supply system starts to work again."
