New Arawa Hospital
A huge crowd gathered on Friday in Arawa to celebrate the official opening of the new Arawa hospital.
Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill, President Chief Dr John Momis, and Australian High Commissioner, Bruce Davis officially opened the new health facility after the Joint Supervisory meeting program.
President Momis said it was a proud day for the region to see Arawa’s health service restored to its former glory.
“The Arawa hospital was once the best health facility in Papua New Guinea”, Mr Momis said
“On a personal note I wish to thank the Australian Government through the High Commissioner, and the Prime Minister for gifting us with this beautiful hospital which will serve the people of Bougainville right throughout the region.”
The upgraded regional hospital doubles the amount of health care being provided to people across Bougainville. This includes a new labour ward, surgical facilities, 24 new beds, pharmacy and an on-site Family Support Centre for survivors of family and sexual violence.
The K34 million upgrade was supported by the Australian Government through Bougainville’s Department of Health and involved over 500,000 hours of local labour during construction.
President Momis said the state of the art health facility represented another milestone in the rebuilding of Bougainville’s service infrastructure.
“Peace must be matched by development, and the doubling of high quality health services is evidence that the ongoing peace process is being rewarded”, Mr Momis said.
Prime Minister O’Neill acknowledged that Bougainville has dealt with a lot of pain in the past – but now was the time for looking after health and maintaining a quality of life.
“The restoration of Bougainville not an easy exercise for a developing country and this is why we need development partnerships to build new infrastructure for all.” Mr O’Neill said.
“I have seen a lot of change in Arawa, let’s keep building Bougainville together.”
High Commissioner Davies thanked the crowd for their warm welcome and the hard work of staff and the local community.
“Many local workers have been trained during construction and that makes projects like these so worthwhile.”
The hospital upgrade includes a range of improved facilities and new buildings including a paediatrics ward, hospital management and district rural health offices, and bathroom, kitchen and laundry facilities. Supporting infrastructure for hospital operations was also supplied such as a water treatment system, generator and incinerator, fire-fighting capacity, and roads and carparks.
The Family Support Centre offers specialised health care, counselling and consultation rooms, safe rooms, transit accommodation, and disability access for survivors of family and sexual violence.
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