New Health Center to provide essential services for Bougainville’s west coast communities by 2025
Over 20,000 people from the Mahari and Teua Constituencies in the west coast district of Kunua will soon have access to improved health services with the commencement of construction for a level three health center, marked by today's groundbreaking ceremony.
The Soroken Health Center, set to be completed by 2025, will transform healthcare in the district by bringing a wide range of medical services closer to home.
The health center will feature outpatient services, accident and emergency care, an operating theater, surgical ward, a waiting house for expectant mothers, two birthing suites, post-natal services and a family support center. This comprehensive range of health services is designed to address the community's health needs effectively.
At the groundbreaking ceremony today, ABG Member for Mahari Constituency, Carol Poli, highlighted the significance of the project, noting the district’s inaccessibility to basic government services.
“The land that you are standing on, the people who live here, the constituency and the entire Kunua District that you have come to set foot on and where the hospital will be built, is Bougainville’s most disadvantaged district,” she said.
“Particularly, in terms of accessibility to education, health, and economic services, and law and order services. I say thank you all for the part you have played in getting the project off the ground and giving life to our future generation of the west coast.”
ABG Minister for Health, Dennis Lokonai, emphasized the government's commitment to enhancing healthcare infrastructure and stated, “It is our desire to establish an effective and functional health system that can deliver health services to our people, but we cannot achieve that without the required human and financial resources.”
“As we prepare to develop a new health facility, the department structure is being revised to include positions for the new health facility, including for Soroken, the Buin District hospital upgrade, and the provincial referral hospital upgrade that is also in the pipeline,” Lokonai announced.
“The Department is embarking on improving and strengthening existing health facilities and developing new ones to increase access to health services. We are also building the capacity of our regional health teams to improve efficiency and quality of health services in the rural areas. I am grateful to our partners and the national government for the support to the health sector on Bougainville,” Minister Lokonai added.
He also appealed to the local communities to take ownership of this important service.
“As Minister responsible for Health, I’d like to appeal to the people of Mahari and Teua constituencies and the people of Kunua to take care of your health facility when it is constructed. I also appeal to you to take care of the health workers who will be deployed to this facility once it is open. These health workers will provide services right to your doorstep.”
On the ground to witness the ceremony today was National Minister for Health, Dr. Lino Tom. He acknowledged the challenges faced by health workers across the country, including in Bougainville, stating that a key focus for his Ministry and Department is increasing the number and quality of health workers.
Minister Tom assured the Autonomous Bougainville Government and its people that that the National Government stands ready to support development on Bougainville.
“We are here and we will give priority to your development aspirations,” he said.
The Soroken Health Center project is co-funded by the Asian Development Bank, the Government of Australia, and the Government of Papua New Guinea with the support of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
According to the ABG Health Infrastructure Plan 2021-2030, the next major health infrastructure projects include the Buin District Hospital, the Specialist Referral Hospital to be built in Arawa and the south-west district hospital at Boku will also be developed.
Improvements are also underway at the Buka General Hospital, with K20 million allocated for upgrades. The National Member for North Bougainville has additionally allocated K2 million to further support the Buka General Hospital's management in enhancing its services.
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