Lae District Health Services

LAE DISTRICT HEALTH SERVICES Lae District Health Service provides primary health service to the population within the city of Lae and also those from other districts of Morobe Province. The district is situated in the heart of the city and serves a mobile population of 157,081(2010 projected). Lae has two local level government and they both have their own wards. AHI llg has 17 wards and Lae urban llg has 6 wards. It is anticipated that all the wards within the llgs must have a health facility. The AHI local level government has two health facilities within its wards and they are BUTIBAM health centre at BUTIBAM and MALAHANG health centre near the malahang industrial centre. Unlike LAE local urban llg which has seven health facilities. All wards in Lae urban llg has a health facility, where all primary health care service is provided, including curative health service. Therefore health service is accessible to all the population of LAE city. The prime role of primary health care is prevention of diseases. Like the saying goes “Prevention is better than Cure”. Therefore, services provided by the primary health include; antenatal care, family planning, well baby, immunization and nutrition. However since the closure of the ANGAU hospital outpatient department, the outpatient services (curative health service) were then incorporated into the primary health service. Therefore outpatient service is now also provided by the primary health service. Curative health service that is currently provided by the primary health service are TB DOTS and also diagnosing and its management, VCT and treatment of positive HIV cases (ART), Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT), STI and Provider Initiated Counseling and Testing (PICT) is initiated in all the departments of the health facility. All these services are provided on a daily basis, regardless of the decrease in manpower. Due to the road link, linking the highlands provinces and the momase provinces as well as sea port linking the northern region and the New Guinea islands, patients are coming to access curative health service but not primary health care. Although primary health service is being accessible with road access, attitude remains a very big setback for many of the mothers. Family planning and immunization coverage are quite low because they (mothers) do not come freely to access the services. Finally PNG government has implemented decentralization, and the services are being brought right down to the community level. Making services accessible to the majority of the population and there should be no excuse for low coverage in immunization as it is provided free of charge. There has to be an answer or a solution for the low immunization coverage within Lae District as it is situated in the Provincial capital of the industrial city of Lae. Therefore the challenge is now on the primary health care workers and the management to find ways or solutions to how best they could do to bring the immunization coverage to at least between 85 to 90 percent otherwise. It is going to be a big challenge with the ATTITUDE of the guardians of the children.