Health Minister Malabag blasts Kimisopa for inappropriate and misleading reports on health

PNG Health Minister Michael Malabag. Photo supplied 

By Jacob Marcos

Minister for Health and HIV Michael Malabag has described Parliamentary Committee for Public Service Reform and Service Delivery, Bire Kimisopa’s acton of “leaked interim report on health as inappropriate and misleading.

“The Report was full of inaccuracies which the department addressed in a comprehensive fifty-page response which was provided to the Committee, Malabag said.

“I express my concern in the strongest terms for the unauthorised action of Bire Kimisopa, in posting the Interim Report on the Committee website,” he said.

As a Minister of the National Department of Health, Malabag welcomed the interest of the Parliamentary Committee for Public Sector Reform and Service Delivery in the health sector in 2015.

“The Committee began conducting its meetings in May 2015 and provided an Interim Report only weeks later in early June. It drew upon a 2013 Health Management Report but ignored two independent 2015 Reports conducted by national and international health sector experts,” Malabag said.

“The committee completed its interim report without consulting the Minister, the Secretary or the National Department of Health,” he said in a statement.

“A Committee given responsibility by Parliament to use the powers of the Constitution to investigate the conduct and performance of others ought to undertake its duties with the highest levels of probity and careful adherence to applicable Parliamentary rules,” Malabag lashed out.

He said that selected Committees of Parliament were established by Parliament and report to Parliament and evidence taken before such a “committee must not be disclosed by any Member unless authorized by the Parliament. To do so is contempt of Parliament,” he said.

“In undertaking this action, Mr Kimisopa may therefore be in contempt of Parliament and possibly guilty of a breach of the Constitutional Leadership Code.  The Code requires that a Member of Parliament does not demean his office or position; allow his public or official integrity to be called into question; or endanger or diminish respect for and confidence in the integrity of government in PNG,” the minister said.

He said that the Health Sector faces many challenges and is using its best endeavours to address them.

“There are green shoots of positive progress in the health system which were reported to the Committee but about which Mr Kimisopa made no public comment,” Malabag said.

“Focusing entirely on negatives directs attention away from positive attempts to address system weaknesses and progress the legitimate Government agenda,” he said.

Malabag described that Kimisopa’s action showed disrespect for his own Committee, for Parliament and for the users of the Health Sector.

“It is an unnecessary distraction in the important work we are doing to address health system challenges and create a health sector in which our people may have confidence,” he said.