Kase to be given time to respond

By REBECCA KUKU - The National

THE Cabinet will give health secretary Pascoe Kase, pictured, time to respond to issues raised in a petition submitted by the National Doctor’s Association (NDA) yesterday.
“The Prime Minister (James Marape) and I will meet with Kase to discuss some of the points,” Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Elias Kapavore said.
“We will give him time to respond, and we will also have in place an independent team to investigate some of the concerns raised in the petition.”
The details of the issues were not revealed to the media.
The petition is related to the controversial awarding of two contracts worth K100 million to Borneo Pacific Pharmaceutical Limited (BPPL) for the procurement and supply of medical kits and antibiotics for Papua New Guinea this year.
Following the announcement of the contract awards by Kase on Aug 14, the NDA questioned the Government’s rationale of awarding contracts to the private sector for the supply of medical kits and medicine.
“Why can’t the Government set up its own department to procure medical kits and medicine directly, either, from the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended agents, like the International Dispensary Association (IDA) or equivalent, or directly from manufacturers in Asia, Australia, the US or Europe?
“Generic medicines procured this way will be cheaper and effective,” NDA secretary and chief of emergency medicine Dr Sam Yockopua had lamented.
The NDA also demanded that Kase be replaced and the contracts be suspended.
Kapavore told The National that he was present with the prime minister at the presentation of the nine point-point petition by NDA.
“I wish to thank NDA for their presentation that now place us in the picture with analyses from their view on health, both at governance and clinical settings.
“Delivering health services remains and will continue to be a challenge for the Government.
“Many interventions for improvement, supported by our development partners are acknowledged.”


Go to this link for more; https://www.thenational.com.pg/kase-to-be-given-time-to-respond/

Misuse of antibiotics should stop, says official

By LULU MARK - The National

THE misuse and abuse of antibiotics in PNG should stop in order to prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Health Department secretary Pascoe Kase says.
In his address to participants of the first national AMR forum in Port Moresby yesterday, Kase urged human health, animal health and environment sectors to take a unified stand against the global public health threat which required local interventions.
He said AMR was a behavioural change in the disease causing microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that defended themselves from the antimicrobials such as antibiotics and other medicines that were meant to kill them.
He said AMR was a major concern because it resulted in prolonging the disease, increased healthcare cost for the individual and society, disability and even death.
“Every country is affected by IMR which causes 700,000 deaths every year worldwide,” he said.
“The multi-drug resistance tuberculosis (TB) is a classic example of AMR in PNG. “
Kase said the Government was committed to combating AMR through a one-health approach, therefore the national action plan 2019-2023 on it was signed by the Health and Agriculture and Livestock departments, the Conservation Environment Promotion Authority (Cepa) and National Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA).
He said the ARM secretariat under Health Department through the pharmaceutical standards service branch would coordinate this.


Gop to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/misuse-of-antibiotics-should-stop-says-official/

PNGDF setting up base in Hela

Posted on The National

THE Papua New Guinea’s Defence Force (PNGDF) will set up a forward operating Base (FOB) comprising a company of 100 men in Hela.
Commander Brig Gen Toropo, pictured, told The National that the PNGDF had decided to set up the FOB due to the ongoing law and order issues in the province. The call out first begun in December 2016 that cost tax payers K11 mil to quell tribal fighting in Hela and was later extended to Southern Highlands and Enga to address law and order issues in 2017 for the national general elections.
The call out was than extended again when a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck near Mt Bosavi at the borders of Southern Highlands and Hela to June this year but was again extended December following the massacre of women and children on July in Tari-Pori.
Toropo said troops were still in Hela, Enga and Southern Highlands to maintain security.
“We are also currently scoping out the new Hela defence barracks,” he said.
“Our engineering battalion are also working on the Highlands Highway as well. They’ve completed the Madang to Ramu road and the Baiyer to Jimi Road and are now working on the Ramu to Jimi Road which is a 90km stretch of road.”
“Also in Finschhafen (Morobe), a team of our engineers are on the ground to work on the road from Finchaffen to Bukawa.”

Go to this link for more; https://www.thenational.com.pg/pngdf-setting-up-base-in-hela/

BIG SHAME! THE BAVA PARK RUGBY UNION STADIUM HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A LIVING QUARTERS

By Frank A Makanuey - PNG Blogs

The dressing room at the Bava park rugby union stadium has been converted into a living quarter's. Big games cannot be hosted there due to the lack of a proper dressing room. 

Is NSTL a State-Owned Enterprise? Is NSTL owned by PNG Sports Foundation?

Prior to the Pacific Games in 2015, the PNG Sports Foundation under the former Minister Justin Tkachenko conducted automatic acquisition of the sporting fields around the Bisini - Boroko area and improved it for the games. Soccer, Softball, Netball, Rugby Union, Cricket and AFL fields including the land where the Botanical Garden used to be but was being used by Port Moresby Softball as the carpark.

All these fields are now managed by a company, a business arm of the Png Sports Foundation which now manages these infrastructures. The company is called NSTL, or National Stadiums Trust Limited.

Can the Minister responsible for Sports answer the following questions? I believe the Ministry of Sports still remains with the Prime Minister and Wesley Ramin as the Vice Minister.

1. Does the company come under the SOE, if not, why not?
2. PNG Sports Foundation is a public service institution. Can a Government Department own and operate a Business?
3. To whom does the Company make Declarations and where does the profit margin go to and who benefits out of them.
4. Is this company a private company, a trust, or a Government Department-owned business. And who are the Board of Directors of this company?
5. Can Sir John Pundari and the Parliament Public Accounts Committee inquiry into their Finances, Legality and Operations?
5. Are the Land Titles of the Bava Rugby Park, Bisini Soccer, and Softball and Netball grounds registered under this Company?

I believe this company is illegal. I believe the company National Stadiums Trust Limited (NSTL) is an illegal company set up by PNG Sports Foundation to manage all the stadiums. This company now owns and operates the Stadiums at the Bisini, and regularly receives rental payments from Rugby Union, Soccer, AFL, Netball and Softball for the usage of the fields once owned and operated by the sports.

I believe the Board of Directors of NSTL will one day own these Stadiums.

If the EMTV saga requires an immediate undertaking to be investigated, by the same token, the same must be applied to Png Sports Foundation and NSTL.

By the way, the dressing room at the Bava Rugby Union has been converted into an accommodation to house one of the NSTL employees.

What's going on Minister?

Tomorrow the Oceania Rugby Union Cup will be played at the Sir John Guise Stadium, because the Visiting Teams from Solomons Islands, Niue and Nauru cannot use the Dressing Room at the Bava Park to change and play.

What's going on Mr Minister? Please explain. I have asked these same questions since 2017, and to date no one has responded. I asked again 5 days ago on this forum. Silence.

I will continue to ask until I get some kind of response from the Minister. It seems this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to PNG Sports Foundation since the 2015 Pacific Games.


Go to this link for more: http://www.pngblogs.com/2019/08/big-shame-bava-park-rugby-union-stadium.html

Scientists publish valuable forest inventory

By DOMINIC SENGI - The National

WHEN trees talk, mankind must pay attention, listen and take action, just as when the economy experiences shocks and is distressed and when an environmental pestilence sweeps the land.
Every nation must awaken to any potentially life-threatening scenario.
PNG politics and national life have not been keen to listen to the silent messages that the natural environment that surrounds this nation has been trying to convey to us such as through the revelations by the sciences through research and publications.
Do we in PNG have to wait till the last timber merchant ship cut anchor and disappear into the horizon after desertification and massive soil erosion occurs?
Kipiro Damas, a Morobean tree scientist and senior botanist at PNG Forestry Research Institute’s Lae National Herbarium, and his collaborating researcher Barry Conn have been studying trees in PNG for the last 10 years. In their bolstering three-volume book that was recently published entitled “Trees of Papua New Guinea” the two forest scientists have intervened through the publication – and for country – a comprehensive treatment of 688 species of trees (Volume 1: 257 species Vol 2: 246 species; Vol 3: 165 species) that will assist greatly in the identification of trees of PNG.
The co-authors have collaboratively produced a milestone document that filled a huge knowledge gap in the ability of this nation to make knowledge in the specific sector available to resource managers. The resource book will be of value to environmental scientists, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations and extractive industries; it would especially serve the timber industry by assisting in the identification of major tree species of PNG.
Damas and Conn pull the angelus for PNG to rethink the way it manages its forest resource, either through regulation and policy or by merchandise. Do we stand still in reflection to see what we are doing to our trees and forests – oxygen-producing real estates as our share for the survival of humanity?

Co-authors Kipiro Dama and Barry Conn.

They describe that facts as well as the threats confronting PNG. They say the island of New Guinea has a high diversity of species and a high level of endemism or risk of extinction. From Samarai (PNG) to Sorong (Indonesia) the Island of New Guinea is home to more than 5 per cent of earth’s biodiversity in just over one half of a per cent of the land on earth.

“ The forest of Papua New Guinea needs to be managed sensitively and sustainably based on evidence-based knowledge.”

“New Guinea supports the largest area of mature tropical moist forest in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the authors.
Papua New Guinea alone inclusive of the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Buka and Bougainville play host to anything between 15,000 and 20,000 species of vascular plants with at least 2,000 species of trees.
However, the scientists warned in their books: “The most important challenge for Papua New Guinea is thus:

• Protection of biological diversity against pressures resulting from global climate change;
• Protection against inappropriate destructive conversion of natural communities;
• Unsustainable exploitation of forests;
• Unsustainable national economic and social demands;
• Unfair sharing of forest-derived national wealth; and
• Law and order issues and human security risks.

Without doubt, the tri-volume book will enable those who are responsible for natural resource management to improve their knowledge of the trees in PNG’s forests so that they can fully appreciate the richness of these biologically diverse forest nation.
“The forest of Papua New Guinea needs to be managed sensitively and sustainably based on evidence-based knowledge,” the authors said.

• Dominic Sengi is an independent journalist and diplomat currently working as Strategy and Foreign Policy Advisor at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/scientists-publish-valuable-forest-inventory/

Govt agencies told to write simple, workable policies

By HELEN TARAWA - The National

PRIME Minister James Marape is calling on Government agencies and departments writing policies not to reinvent the wheel.
In his address to the staff of the National Resarch Institute (NRI) and National Economic and Fiscal Commission (NEFC) yesterday, he urged policymakers and writers to keep it simple and workable.
“There are enough policies to go to the moon and back. If they are compatible, then we will take the greatest recommendations,” he said.
Marape said the Government would not divert the roles of NRI and NEFC.
“If there is any time our Government needs NRI and NEFC to step up, it is today and I ask you to step up and pick up some of our conversations, I look through some of the writings,” he said.
“You can model them and advise us what is achievable and together we can find the right path in which our country can grow into from 2019 to 2020 and beyond.”
Marape said the 2020s should not be another lost decade, it should be the right decade in which PNG sets sail in the right direction to make PNG the “richest black Christian nation”.
“Our human development indicators are very low, our corruption statistics are amongst the (highest) and economic index is the lowest,” he said.
“We have to get out of this and black is our past, rich is our destination and Christianity is the strategy through which we can get there.
“I looked into NRI’s eight programmes and they are important and are the contemporary programme that should have evidence on to support the Government in progressing our way forward.
“Please get that data to us to help us place our country in the right projection going forward.
“We want to live in a better PNG and we can never get there if we don’t work together.”
Marape said NRI and NEFC’s role would be maintained.
“You are not lost in the jungle of Waigani. We will never challenge your voice, even if it’s harsh. It is better to listen to harsh criticism than praise that is faulty all the time.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/govt-agencies-told-to-write-simple-workable-policies/

Firm signs deal to increase LNG contracted volumes

By DALE LUMA - The National

OIL Search Ltd signed mid-term liquefied natural gas contracts recently to take the total contracted volumes for PNG LNG up to 7.9 million tonnes, says managing director Peter Botten.
“They consider the move as a smart thing to do in the current market and this will leave only minor volumes exposed to LNG spots,” he said.
“The 7.9 million tonnes represents approximately 90 per cent of the project’s LNG production output.
“In April, the PNG LNG Project contracted the final mid-term tranche of LNG volumes with Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd.
“The contract ensures a commitment to supply approximately 0.45 million tonnes per annum of LNG over a four-year period.
“Supply commenced in April this year, with two LNG cargoes delivered to Unipec during the second quarter.
“The PNG LNG gas agreements were signed in April and other key commercial agreements may progress right through the first half of the year.
“PNG LNG undertook some significant schedule maintenance in the first half of the year and we anticipate a strong second half from the project.
“We also had a successful appraisal up at Muruk two which tested very good reservoir quality sands that proves that Muruk two is in continuity with Muruk one.
“That will have ramifications on re-source based announcements later this year and early next year.
“The Papua LNG has also dominated our discussions and interest over the last three or four months.
“We are effectively all ready to align our joint ventures, align the interest of the various commercial entities.
‘We are all ready to go when the Papua LNG and P’nyang gas agreements are confirmed and finalised by the PNG Government.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/firm-signs-deal-to-increase-lng-contracted-volumes/