15/11/2025
๐ ๐
๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ, ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ง
This is the story of a father named Simion Alo Sawalu, trapped in Angau Memorial Hospital's crisis of medicine shortages.
Simon is from Siwi-Utame in the Ialibu-Pangia District of Southern Highlands Province. Recently, he became very sick, so he was taken to Angau Memorial Hospital for treatment. He has been admitted there for almost five weeks now.
During all these weeks, Angau Hospital has not given him any medicine. The only thing the doctors put on him was a drip. The drip has been keeping him alive. They ran several tests, got the results, and then told him to go to private clinics in Lae to buy his own medicine.
From the day he entered the hospital until now, not even one dose of medicine has been given to him in the public ward.
I have already spent some money buying his medicine from private clinics because Angau could not provide anything. It is sad that Simon lives right in Lae city, yet the main public hospital cannot treat him.
People go to hospitals hoping to recover. But when they are told โthere is no medicine,โ or when they are left lying in bed without proper treatment, they lose hope and such treatment from a major hospital brings death death closer. What is really happening in our hospitals and in the health sector!
As Simon continued to suffer, I started to think deeply about the bigger problem. Why are major hospitals like Angau and Port Moresby General Hospital always running out of medicine? Why are ordinary patients being told to buy medicine themselves?
From my own observations and findings, the real truth is shocking.
There seems to be a major scam happening in the health sector. Medicines that arrive in the country are disappearing, being stolen before they reach the public hospitals. The medicines that should be going to public hospitals are ending up in private hospitals and clinics.
Strong, lifesaving drugs go missing the moment they arrive in the country. There are secret deals and connections where shipments meant for public hospitals are stolen and sold to private clinics. This is why patients like Simon are lying in hospital beds with no treatment.
Reports published and seculated on social media show that when medicine shipments arrive, even doctors and health staff fight over them at distribution sites. There are hidden deals where certain groups take the best medicines and move them straight to private clinics. As a result, public hospitals receive less or receive nothing at all.
Families of the patients are forced to spend money on private clinics even when their loved ones are admitted in public hospitals. This is why so many people die from simple, treatable illnesses.
If this issue is not properly investigated especially how private hospitals get their supplies and how they run their operations, PNG will continue to face medicine shortages.
Law-enforcement agencies must monitor how shipments enter the country, how they are distributed, and make sure the medicine is escorted directly to public hospitals.
Other big corruptions are happening in this country so why canโt there also be drug trafficking within the health sector? Many lines of authority in public hospitals and private clinics could be connected to this illegal business.
There are too many private clinics in Lae and Port Moresby. They must be investigated to determine where they get their medicine from, how they purchase them. Someone is taking advantage of the national medicine shortage and turning it into a business.
This is not a small issue. It must be raised with the Prime Minister, the Health Minister, and responsible authorities. In the last Parliament session, the Health Minister said that millions of kina were spent on medicine shipments. Peter OโNeill questioned this by asking why the hospitals still had no medicine.
The government may be buying the drugs but they disappear during distribution. If authorities start monitoring the distribution chain closely, many lives could be saved and hospitals would have enough drugs to treat the parents.
Simon admitted for almost five weeks in Angau Memorial Hospital but still cannot receive even one single dose of medicine from a public hospital.
His suffering in this hospital shows a bigger problem especially a broken system where medicine goes missing, private clinics grow rich, and ordinary people die waiting. Simon's story is not just about one patient. It is a picture of all patients going through similar situations today, and it must be heard.
If families, friends & relatives wanted to check and find out about Daddy Simon's situation, call or WhatsApp on phone 71691384/75842591.
โ๏ธโ๏ธ Albert Moses
