Goroka General Hospital is urgently needing one or more large emergency style tents to assist medicos with the current Outbreak. Patients have already been admitted with Cholera / Dysentery type symptoms and more are expected. This temporary accommodation would allow the Hospital to segregate infected patients away from the general Hospital population.
This urgent request comes direct from Dr. Joseph Apa – CEO, Goroka General Hospital. Anyone reading this in a position to assist by way of sourcing such a tent (similar to the one in the photo on the left) and/or organising the immediate transport to Goroka are asked to contact the Hospital’s CEO as soon as possible at info@ggh.org.pg or via a comment in the space provided below.
I believe that the current Outbreak is going to get much worse. People around Goroka town continue to sell and eat “fast” market food – continue to cook with and drink unboiled dirty water – and so far I have yet to see the distribution of any information pamphlets or health officers conducting public awareness on the situation. (A few folks have seen an ambulance getting around town with loudspeakers going full bore)
It is unfortunate but last Thursday morning we lost a young boy in our village which is located on the Eastern Highlands and Simbu border – one day he was fine – the next morning, three hours of throwing up and shitting water and he drops down dead. Although the Health Authorities were notified – nothing has really happened – no visits to the village – no one to explain to the locals how to dispose of the body and clothes etc… nothing. This “all talk and no action” approach will see many more die before something of substance is put into effect.
Note: A Cholera information booklet recently made available by the Lae Chamber of Commerce containing some contents in Tok Pisin – Cholera Outbreak (Tok Pisin) 
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Today’s newspapers report the following stories on the Outbreak:
Dysentery deaths up
Post Courier: story by Haiveta Kivia and Willie Palme
SEVENTY TWO people were last night added to the list of people that have succumbed to dysentery, the water borne disease that is spreading like bushfire in Morobe, Eastern Highlands and Gulf provinces. The latest figures supplied by government officials bring the total number of people claimed by a dysentery outbreak in the three provinces to 177…
29 Die in EHP
The National: story by Zachery Per in Goroka
MEDICAL authorities yesterday revealed that 29 people in Eastern Highlands Province have died from dysentery, while one case of cholera has been confirmed…
Sewerage a health hazard
The National: story by Zachery Per in Goroka
GOROKA residents are being exposed to great risk of cholera and dysentery because of untreated sewerage being dumped into nearby creeks. Residents and community leaders including executives of Apoga Community Health Concern Group at the Fimito Road sewerage plant yesterday approached The National with concerns about their exposure to diseases. They said they were at risk as chemical treatment plant and instruments at the four treatment ponds had broken down, resulting in untreated waste being discharged into the nearby creeks, waterways and surrounding areas…
Hi there – I was in Madang last week and noticed that the Cholera Alert had been dispatched far & wide. Stories of adults wearing baby “bumbums” in Morobe Province was also being spread far & wide. And then I hear the diseas has spread to my home province – Oro. IMy wish is that the disease comes under control sooner than later.
I think we all share the same wish about not wanting to see this situation spread any further. The media has not reported much on the outbreak over the past week and things seem to have stabilised in Goroka.
R