Papua New Guinea will only receive its first Covid-19 vaccines next month, despite an uncontrolled coronavirus outbreak in the country, hospitals closing their doors to patients and an already vulnerable healthcare system on the verge of collapse .
At the general hospital in Port Moresby, 40% of the mothers in the labor ward tested for Covid-19 produced positive results, but could not be separated from other mothers because there is no isolation ward for them.
And the crisis could worsen further: the funeral of PNG’s first prime minister, and his grand master, Sir Michael Somare, is expected to attract tens of thousands to the northern coastal town of Wewak later this week, an event that could serve as an event with ‘ a super-distributor, which in turn spreads the virus throughout the archipelago.
By global standards, the number of confirmed cases in PNG is low: 1,670. However, less than 50,000 tests have been performed for the entire PNG population in the PNG population (nearly 9 million), and the actual infection rate is factors higher.
In many places outside the capital Port Moresby, there is no testing at all. PNG government sources say that the actual rate of action could be ten times the official figure.
Late Tuesday, the government announced that it had obtained 200,000 AstraZeneca doses from Australia and 70,000 from India.
“We are now transferring the vaccine, hopefully by April,” said Prime Minister James Marape.
“Health workers will first be vaccinated because we are seeing a growing number of health workers becoming infected in the line of their work.”
The government is fighting not only emerging infections, but entrenched resistance to vaccinations, with conspiracy theories abounding through WhatsApp groups and social media, and uncompromisingly widespread beliefs such as ‘Melanesians are immune to coronavirus’.
Overcrowded Port Moresby has been at the center of the outbreak of PNG, but there is also concern about the growing number of cases in the Western Province, which shares a porous border with West Papua, where infection rates are among the highest in Melanesia.
The governor of the province of Oro, Gary Juffa, recently recovered from Covid-19 himself and said that the number of infections in PNG is much higher than the official figures, because many people have not been tested despite symptoms. He said that ‘years of neglect’ and corruption in the PNG’s healthcare system ‘now expose a bad reality’.
“I believe that the situation is rapidly becoming serious and that the health system of Papua New Guinea is under severe restrictions.”
Prof Glen Mola, head of Port Moresby’s Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said the vaccination of Guardian was urgently needed.
‘We have Covid-19 cases everywhere, about 40% of the mothers brought to the labor department [and tested for coronavirus]… tested Covid-19 positively, ”he said. ‘But we can not isolate them, because there is no section for isolation.
“We try our best to help these mothers, but they bring in Covid-19 from their communities and infect health workers.”
The hospital – the largest PNG – was forced to close entire parts of the hospital after 40 staff members tested positive. The hospital also does not need gloves and other personal protective equipment.
Other hospitals across the country – including Mount Hagen – have also closed their doors due to fluctuating budgets. Some hospitals received only one-third of the money needed to stay open and were forced to discontinue services, just as Covid cases are increasing.
St John Ambulance Commissioner Matt Cannon said PNG faced an uncontrollable outbreak without intervention.
“We are not at the tipping point now – the tipping point was three weeks ago,” he said. ‘We are expecting hundreds more cases, and this could increase by thousands. We are at alert level. There are big alarms going on. Health workers are affected. ”
“We are not working on elimination now; we are now at the stage where we can only try to slow down the spread and protect as many lives as possible. ”
Allan Bird, governor of East Sepik province, said the delay in rolling out a vaccine to Papua New Guinea would cost lives in the country.
“PNG did not order or pay for any vaccines in 2020, so we are not entitled to any vaccines,” he said. ‘The only vaccines available to us are donated by friendly governments. There is already a long waiting list for vaccines. ”