Health Minister Supports Work Done so far to address COVID-19 in PNG

 The new Papua New Guinea minister for Health, Sir Puka Temu has given his backing for the work done by a cluster of team operating at the National Command Centre under National Pandemic Controller, David Manning.

The team includes staff from the National Department of Health, representatives from UN agencies, representatives from business community, police, defence, customs, donor agencies among others.

The team led by the Incident Manager, Dr. Daoni Esorom met with Sir Puka Temu this morning for the first time since his appointment as a new health minister in the recent cabinet reshuffle.

Sir Puka said he is pleased with the current structure within NCC but says similar structure must be established in all provinces to address the threat from Covid 19.

“If similar structure can be set up in all the provinces to address these pandemic then I will be satisfied as a minister,” said Sir Puka.

The minister also said the work on Covid 19 must also balance with the growth of the economy. The minister said this in reference to calls from business community at times when State of Emergency restrictions have had a barring on operations of business houses.

The minister in conclusion instructed the team under Dr. Daoni to provide him the challenges they are facing whilst implementing activities aimed at addressing Covid 19.

He requested for suggestions and feed back from the team on how these challenges can be addressed.

“ At least tell me where the challenges are so that I can seek support from the government to address them,” he said.

The minister in his first meeting with the team indicated that he is wasting no time in implementing the tasks aimed at addressing Covid 19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the team has began work immediately to get the strategy done for the minister next week.

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