The prevalence of Covid-19 among staff at Papua New Guinea s main hospital has eased.
Port Moresby General s wards and staff were overwhelmed by a steep increase in cases of the virus in PNG s capital in March.
Port Moresby General Hospital
Photo: POM General Hospital
The hospital had to suspend some services, while a new field hospital at the Taurama Aquatic Centre was established to help handle the cases.
The CEO of Port Moresby General, Paki Molumi, said at that point seventy percent of patients presenting were infected. Many of our staff got infected from the community as well as the hospital. Two hundred and forty of our staff (out of a total of 1636).
COVID-19 numbers fall in Papua New Guinea but there are fears many cases have been missed
For more than a year, nurse Nellie Kamblijambi has been caring for COVID-19 patients in Papua New Guinea s biggest hospital, the Port Moresby General.
When cases surged in March and April she saw many colleagues get infected and the hospital get inundated with patients. It was very busy, she said. There were deaths every day, new admissions every day.
Cases in PNG jumped almost ninefold in two months and more than 11,000 have now been recorded, but because of low testing numbers, it is assumed many cases have been missed.
Doctors in Papua New Guinea say the coronavirus crisis is only getting worse as some hospitals shut their doors to patients and others struggle without supplies as basic as gloves.
A health worker takes a swab from a man at a Covid-19 testing centre in Port Moresby. Rates of testing in PNG are incredibly low.
Photo: AFP or licensors
Health officials and doctors interviewed by RNZ Pacific have described a health system teetering on the brink of collapse and a country that has no real grasp of just how widespread the virus really is.
Officially, the country has recorded 10,915 cases of Covid-19 and 107 deaths, according to government figures released on Wednesday night.
Doctors in Papua New Guinea say the coronavirus crisis there is only getting worse, as hospitals struggle without supplies as basic as gloves in a country with no grasp of just how widespread the virus really is.
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