Death stalks the wards

THERE can be no excuse.
If the conditions of Ward 4B at Port Moresby General Hospital are even remotely as bad as nurses claim, then emergency action must be taken without further delay.

Much of this hospital is relatively new, the result of generous funding from overseas donor countries.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is not a new issue in PNG.

The National has focussed on the threat posed by this disease for more than a decade. In that time, we have written countless editorials, feature articles, and hard news stories, and played host to the opinions of hundreds of readers through their letters to the Editor.

All Papua New Guineans are painfully aware that our country does not have money to spare.

Most of us barely manage to feed our families and provide them with basic medical attention and education. We all live in hopes of an improved life style just around the corner.

That should never mean that if we contract this disease, one which almost certainly will lead to a rapid death, we will find ourselves condemned to the bleak horrors of Ward 4B.

How is it possible for this ward, of all wards at Port Moresby General Hospital, to have such a depleted nursing staff?

Why are there not enough resources for nurses to do their work?

Why are HIV/AIDS patients accommodated in a ward apparently filched from patients suffering from tuberculosis?

Why are there limited bed spaces-- apparently only 64 beds -- to handle the worst medical threat faced by our biggest hospital since its inception?

Why is there no personal protective gear for nurses and carers?

And why is there no proper and adequate supply of food for patients?

This is not a matter that can be put on the back burner until someone gets around to addressing the issue.

If the Health department were to divert some of the hundreds of thousands of kina spent on anti-HIV and AIDS warnings in the form of blanket radio and newspaper advertising, and a glittering array of high quality multi-coloured posters, and spend those funds on alleviating this desperate situation, lives might be saved.

Look at the figures.

416 new HIV/AIDS cases were recorded between January and July this year in Ward 4B, and of those patients, 82 have died.
That is an unacceptable level of deaths.

What proportion of those patients was suffering terminal AIDS, and what proportion had HIV status at admission?

Were anti-retroviral drugs available to treat those 416 people, and if not, how much longer are we prepared to stand-by and watch this unneccessary carnage?

Dozens of articles from organisations such as Aids Holistics have appeared in our pages, articles that have pointed out the main features of this disease, and how carers can help their HIV-positive relatives and friends.

The possibilities of extending life in this way, of retaining a career or a job, and of maintaining relationships with loved ones despite HIV/AIDS have been repeatedly stressed.

But nothing works as satisfactorily as the cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs first made available in 1996, drugs that have extended the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

Other developing countries are now accessing these drugs, through international foundations, through assistance from developed countries, and through arrangements forged with generic drug manufacturers in countries such as India.

But not, it would seem, PNG.

Why are we allowing this pandemic to gain an ever tighter grip on the people of our country?
The answer is that despite the tens of millions of kina spent on awareness campaigns, despite the endless lip service from those in authority, and despite the galloping death toll from HIV/AIDS, there is very little sense of urgency among those of our own people in a position to make a difference.

Ward 4B is only the public face of a very ugly truth.
And that is that we have yet to wake up to what is happening to our country and our people, and take the immediate steps needed to deal with this engulfing nightmare.

Further delay in committing ourselves to the the defeat of HIV/AIDS will prove to be the death warrant for our nation and our people.