Sixty four compartments of Papua New Guinea’s main mortuary have been out of service since the festive season while a new refrigerated container has also broken down, leaving the hospital looking for room while another 257 dead bodies lie unclaimed.

Port Moresby General Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dr Paki Molumi confirmed with the Post-Courier that the mortuary is full and that a mass burial is expected in the next three weeks.

The storage issue at the country’s biggest hospital is recurrent despite promises and assistance from the national government, the National Capital District Commission, the NCD Provincial Health Authority, partner agencies and others.

The hospital’s Director of Medical Services Dr Koni Sobi said due to the ageing infrastructure, repairing these compartments was an issue.

“The cooling system of a particular container broke down last week,” he said.

“A contractor was engaged last week but they are unable to get inside and do repair work until we empty that container of all human bodies and body parts.

“The 64 compartments’ chiller in the main mortuary building have also been out of service since the festive season. There is a contractor working to repair it. However, it is a very old unit, needs replacing or a major rehabilitation work, which is undergoing this process at the moment,” Dr Sobi said.

Seven bodies lying in open
When the Post-Courier visited the mortuary on Wednesday, at least seven bodies were left lying outside in the open waiting for relatives to come forward.

Meanwhile, the unpleasant smell from the morgue has affected residents nearby.

Dr Sobi explained that the POMGEN mortuary workers had began shifting the bodies from the container where the cooling system had broken down to five other containers, however the other containers were also full.

“We have bodies in the morgue since September 2023. Currently there are 257 bodies and body parts.

“The smell is evident often when the container is opened to remove body or bodies.

“Preparations for another mass burial have commenced and expected to take place within the next 3 weeks,” he said.

The hospital is now appealing to relatives to come forward and collect bodies of their loved ones for burial.

Claudia Tally is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The bodies of Papua New Guinean 31 infants who died between March and July last year at Port Moresby General Hospital were among 127 unclaimed bodies interred in a mass burial yesterday at the 9-Mile public cemetery.

The infants had died soon after birth — 0-7 days old — at the special care nursery but were not claimed by relatives within the first four to five days.

“Most of them are from the nursery and labour wards,” said morgue attendant Davis Angus yesterday at the mass burial site.

He said that of the 127 unclaimed dead bodies, 31 were infants, 48 adults and 48 amputated body parts. Normally the deceased stayed for two months two weeks before being declared unclaimed.

Angus said that about eight infants were placed and buried in one coffin — six coffins were used to bury the bodies of the 39 infants.

“The amputated are the body parts operated and removed from patients who were diabetic, had ulcers or were injured in nasty accidents,” he said.

“These come from the operating theatre.

“Two months is the maximum time for the dead bodies to be in the cool room. Two weeks is the grace period.

Second mass burial
“We conduct mass burial when we receive no notice from the relatives of the deceased.

“We get approval from the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) to proceed with a mass burial. It depends on the NCDC.

“If they delay, than we keep the bodies till whenever.”

These bodies now buried were unclaimed from March 1 to July 31 of last year.

“This is the second mass burial,” Angus said.

“The first one was conducted in December.

“We do mass burial to create space. Currently there is not enough space to keep the deceased bodies.

“In a day, four to five deceased [bodies] are taken to the morgue and six to seven are taken out by their relatives for decent burials. Weekly it is roughly 10 -15 that leave the morgue and 15 to 20 are received.”

The mass burial yesterday was prompted by a public outcry on both social and mainstream media when photos of 20 unclaimed bodies at the layout went viral and hit the front page of the PNG Post-Courier.

“The morgue is extremely crowded,” said Port Moresby General Hospital’s chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi.

Phoebe Gwangilo is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s biggest referral hospital has reached a crisis point as the covid-19 pandemic positivity rate surged drastically to 85 percent yesterday.

Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi in the National Capital District (NCD) has revealed that three children with covid-19 had died three days ago.

He also said yesterday that the hospital had recorded the highest deaths on arrival — 50 on Monday, 40 on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday.

This was a sign that the hospital was reaching a crisis point with services teetering on collapse unless they are immediately given more support.

“PMGH now we have reached a crisis point. The first surge we were able to manage, the second surge we were able to manage but this third surge which is the delta variant is very aggressive, and we are reaching a very critical term,” he said.

“Aggressive means in the first surge we saw a lot of older people getting infected, and so with the second surge.

“This one, we are getting very young people — we lost three kids three days ago. This surge is not discriminating with anyone, its affecting everybody.”

Another dilemma
The hospital is also faced with another dilemma — this time over dead bodies that urgently require money and paper work to be completed to pave the way for their burial.

The deceased include a staggering 300-plus dead bodies with many of them covid-19 related cases and the hospital does not know where it will put the new bodies that are coming out from its covid-19 wards.

Dr Molumi also said 94 of their medical staff were infected with the virus, 52 medical and 42 nursing staff of the hospital had been infected by the virus. They must be given days off for home isolation, further reducing manpower.

“We are faced with a crisis where cobvid patients are presenting in large numbers with shortness of breath requiring manpower to assist,” he said.

“The few staff left are overworked and fatigued and we need to recruit more staff urgently.

“Our staff are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, as we witness death tolls never seen in the history of our hospital.”

“Our AusMat triage tent in front of the PMGH is full, emergency department is full, the isolation ward is full, the covid ward is full and all other beds in different sections, including the maternity wing allocated to covid are also full with covid-19 patients.

‘Dying before reaching hospital’
“People are dying without reaching the hospital. Our mortuary recorded 50 deaths on admission on Monday, 40 deaths on admission on Tuesday and 30 deaths on admission today, with more expected tonight.

“We have never recorded such a high number of deaths on admission.

“The morgue is filled, with bodies packed on top of one another. Right now, 300 plus bodies are at the morgue.

“Three more refrigerated containers have been installed to store dead bodies, but this is not enough. Some bodies were left outside for days because we just don’t have space in the morgue.

“A mass burial of 200 bodies is being planned this week to create more space. The bodies are both covid positive and unclaimed non-covid,” he said.

“So we as the city’s hospital serving over a million population in the national capital district, Central Province as well as parts of Gulf — we are reaching a crisis point.

Matt Cannon, chief executive of St John Ambulance, also said the service was in crisis.

“I think it’s fair to say that the ambulance service at this stage is in a crisis level,” he said.

“Challenges they need to cater for increasing number of patients… our ambulance service is also seeing a stretch!”

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A medical academic has warned the Papua New Guinea government to immediately bring in more than 680,000 doses of covid-19 vaccines because urban health services will collapse if the spike in cases continues.

Professor Glen Mola, who correctly predicted last July that the country should brace for a spike in cases in the ensuing months, said the priority was to “slow the epidemic” as much as possible.

He is head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of PNG’s School of Medicine and Health Science, and the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH).

“We hope that we can slow the epidemic as much as possible,” Professor Mola said yesterday.

“But if there are too many sick people with respiratory symptoms presenting on any given day, then clearly they cannot all be just allowed to pile into the emergency department of the PMGH and the outpatients of the urban clinics.

“If there are just too many for the nurses and doctors to deal with, what are they to do?

“I want to see the vaccine here as soon as possible because the earlier we get the vaccine, the more lives (especially of older people and those with co-morbidities) will be saved.

‘Take notice of health advice’
“Everyone should start taking notice of health advice because by ignoring it, you are risking your own life and the lives of those around you – especially your seniors.”

Professor Mola told The National that the 684,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine were urgently needed in the country to protect the health system.

He said the number of doses mentioned would cover the front-line health workers and older people with co-morbidities. He suggested that some MPs might want to be in front of the queue as well to show “leadership”.

He said that with the spike, the lives of elderly citizens and those with co-morbidities were at a very high risk of succumbing to covid-19.

He called on young people to not wander around the entire day because their chances of picking up the virus and spreading it to older family members were high.

Meanwhile, the PMGH is prioritising its clinical services over the next two weeks due to the covid-19 spike.

Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said the action had to be taken because of the increasing number of workers testing positive.

“The main objective is to mobilise staff into areas greatly affected as a result of staff [being] quarantined and [in] isolation,” he said.

Action at a glance
Services to be affected include:

• CONSULTATION clinic will be closed, with only urgent matters to be attended to;
• ONLY emergency surgeries will be performed while elective surgeries put on hold;
• EMERGENCIES with category 1-3 and referrals will be attended at the emergency department and children’s outpatient. People are advised to go to the nearest clinic and health facility in the city; and
• GYNAECOLOGY clinic will be closed and bookings rescheduled.

The antenatal clinic, TB clinic, pharmacy, dental clinic, medical and imaging services will remain open but there will be certain limitations and strict control.

National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning said that a “lockdown was [still] an option”.

“Only after we make sure we take everything into consideration including what it will do to Port Moresby and the businesses,” he said.

“I expect all individuals, communities, businesses and organisations to adhere to the protocols.”

Asia Pacific Report publishes The National articles with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says.

Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said overcrowding, especially in the emergency department, was a big concern.

“The population increases at 3 percent a year yet services remain the same,” Dr Molumi said.

“There is a discrepancy between demand and supply which is reflected by the overcrowding.”

He said sometimes patients died while waiting to be attended to because of the long queue.

“The hospital serves over a million people in Port Moresby, Central and Gulf,” he said.

“Limited staff are struggling to meet the demand which reduces the quality of care given to a sick person.

Specialised care needed
“As a specialist hospital, it should be concentrating on delivering specialised care so that our people do not need to go overseas for that.

“Instead, we are taking on primary and secondary care as we do not have a separate hospital for the growing population in the city.”

The city has an estimated population of 385,000.

Dr Molumi was responding to a complaint on social media about a woman being admitted at the emergency ward on Saturday but was not attended to until Monday night.

“There is no hospital for Central and the Gulf Hospital cannot offer adequate services,” he said.

“Hence, all come to the Port Moresby General Hospital.

“The overcrowding at the emergency department and outpatients is a reflection of a defective health service we are offering to our people.”

Dr Molumi sees a separate hospital for the National Capital District Health Authority and Central to look after primary and secondary healthcare, leaving Port Moresby General Hospital to concentrate on referrals as the best solution to the overcrowding.

Right now, he said, the hospital was dealing with “everything” which was putting a strain on existing resources.

Lulu Mark is a reporter for The National. Asia Pacific Report republishes The National articles with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby General Hospital is scaling down its services due to covid-19 cases being detected on its premises.

The hospital chief executive officer, Dr Paki Molumi, said that since yesterday the hospital had gone into emergency mode.

“For PMGH operations, it is mandatory for all staff to wear a face mask, including anyone visiting the hospital,” Dr Molumi said.

READ MORE: Two more covid-19 cases in Port Moresby

“Since the announcement of the covid-19 case number 12 to 16, the hospital has scaled down its services.

As of yesterday, the consultation clinic has been reduced to no more than 15 patients a session.

“PSOs and respective clinics must ensure that this is implemented efficiently and crowd control adequately managed by all staff concerned with consultation clinics including security personnel,” Dr Molumi said.

“The Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) is within the PMGH. Due to infection control measures like cleaning up the entire hospital, we are into emergency mode as of today so that cleaning up takes places in Ward 2A, consultation clinic, emergency department and other parts of the hospital.”

Enabling staff assessment
Dr Molumi said surgery had been scaled down to allow staff to assess the situation in coming weeks – depending on the results all services could return to normal.

In the meantime, someg services would be affected as a result of these measures to mitigate and address the covid-19 outbreak at the hospital.

The services include pathology services. Urgent tests such as the cross-match and blood transfusion services will be maintained.

“Risk categorisation activity and decontamination of the pathology has been carried in collaboration with the Health Department and World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives on Thursday, July 16.

“Surveillance will be ongoing over the next two weeks and testing of more than 100 staff directly linked to pathology services have been carried out,” Dr Molumi said.

“Emergencies will continue, all elective surgeries will be put on hold until the situation permits.

Specialist treatment teams
“All emergency procedures and surgeries will be carried out according to individual cases as assessed by specialist treatment teams and SOP provided by the surgical, anesthetic and operating room specialists.

“All acutely ill patients coming through the emergency department will be triaged appropriately and rendered needful medical or surgical management in the wards,” he said.

“The labour ward will remain open for the duration of this emergency mode, however, some non-urgent antenatal and gyaenocological outpatient visits will be rescheduled or referred to other urban clinics in the city.”

Dr Molumi said all other essential services such as radiology, TB clinics, dental, physiotherapy, social work, Heduru, oncology and antenatal and general support services must maintain new normal safety practices for covid-19.

Grace Auka-Salmang is a PNG Post-Courier health reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Deputy Controller of the Pandemic Act, Dr Paison Dakulala, has announced four new covid-19 cases in Port Moresby, taking the country’s confirmed cases to 15.

Dr Dakulala initially announced two positive cases and then about a couple of hours added another two.

All four cases are staff members at the Central Public Health Laboratory located at Port Moresby General Hospital.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – Cases in US pass 3.5 million

The laboratory is responsible for carrying out the testing on the swabs to determine whether they were positive or negative.

Three of the staff members are male while one is female. All were in stable condition, and have been moved to Rita Flynn isolation and testing facility at Boroko.

Dr Dakulala revealed that after the 12th case was tested, after showing the usual signs and symptoms, and revealed to be positive, the 37 staff at the CPHL were tested, which produced the 13th, 14th and 15th confirmed cases.

The staff members are made up of three laboratory scientists who conduct GeneXpert testing for covid-19; the other is a support staff member of the laboratory.

Rapid response team deployed
Dr Dakulala also made it clear that a rapid response team, as per the usual measures, had been deployed to conduct contact tracing for those who may have came in contact with the four people.

Asked how the staff members may have contracted the disease, whether it was a breach in protocols at the laboratory or from contracting it from community transmission, Dr Dakulala said it was still unclear at this time.

Investigations would be able to determine that soon.

“The CPHL will undergo a thorough disinfection in the coming days to ensure we follow all the infection prevention and control measures,” he said.

“In the interim, testing for covid-19 samples from provinces will be done at IMR Goroka, Singapore and/or Brisbane, Australia.”

Dr Dakulala stressed the importance of following all health and safety protocols, and ensuring that citizens remain at home if they are sick and call the hotline if they show any of the signs and symptoms.

The last covid-19 case for PNG was announced on June 25 who had come into close contact with case number 10.

Thierry Lepani is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz