Help for AIDS carers

By MAUREEN GERAWA

HIV/AIDS is a new disease that is put-ting a lot of strain on staff at the Port Moresby General Hospital.

But Fr Jude Ronanye-Forde, from the HIV/AIDS Ministry Planning of the Catholic Archdiocese of Port Moresby, is among a few who try to bring some comfort and hope to those caring for HIV patients whenever they can.

He said his group tries to help, but they cannot do everything and called for a committee be set up in Port Moresby to give support to the hospital staff who were working with insufficient resources, including manpower to give good care to patients.

He said HIV/AIDS was a new epidemic which many health workers were not comfortable with handling and needed support through training.

As human beings, they also needed physical, emotional and spiritual support to handle this issue. On Friday, Fr Jude donated five boxes of disposal adult napkins toward 4B which currently has 18 patients with HIV.

Earlier, he brought two portable screens which nurses and doctors working in this ward are using to provide privacy to patients when they change them.

These items were bought with money donated by Brian Haill from the Australian AIDS Societ, Fr Ronanye-Forde said.

Nurse wants govt to do more

A NURSE caring for HIV patients has urged the Government to address the core issues in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including urban drift.

Sister-in-charge of ward 4B at the Port Moresby General Hospital Elizabeth Waken said the hospital did not have the resources to care for HIV patients.

She said urban drift, night club activities, alcohol and drug abuse, and informal sector activities, including the sale of betelnuts at night helped spread theHIV/AIDS epidemic.

She questioned the Government’s continued tolerance of people drifting to the cities in great numbers when people residing in the urban centres should be those who have jobs or were there to acquire education or some sort of training.

Sr Waken has been working in Ward 4B since 1999 and says she has not seen any improvement in the number ofHIV cases in the hospital.