Can the churches save our closest neighbour from a total COVID catastrophe?

Some months ago, Australia broke with tradition and announced that direct funding would be provided to Papua New Guinea's church-run hospitals, health centres, and some schools. The announced commitment was around $21 million. At the time I warmly welcomed this significant, and long overdue, policy change.

In recent weeks, the PNG daily media, and social media, have highlighted just how utterly hopeless the PNG Government's management of the health system is today – and has been for some years. Major hospitals have reported inadequate supplies of medicines, vital equipment and oxygen. Doctors and nurses in many cases have not been paid for months.

Last week I cited the case of how Goroka Hospital, where there have been hundreds of Covid cases, and a significant number of deaths, had run out of oxygen – because the national health department owed the oxygen supplier around K14 million. I reported – inaccurately – it had been paid a day or two after the issue was highlighted in the media.

It took a further week for senior Ministers to meet and agree to "process" the payment. In the meantime, a generous private sector paid for the oxygen the Gorokoa Hospital, and other major Hospitals, desperately needed.

But I discovered during my research for this piece that even church-run hospitals were desperately short of medicines and funds. A number had closed and others were threatening to close.

It now appears that one of the reasons church run hospitals are short of funds is that promised national government funding has either been delayed or not delivered full stop!

It is possible that when the PNG Government noticed Australia is providing some direct assistance, it decided it wasn't urgent for it to do so!

It is clear the Australian Government is considering providing further assistance to PNG as the pandemic worsens. The last thing we should do is just send more cash.

What Australia should do is look at providing direct funding to private sector suppliers of medicines, oxygen and ventilators.

But there is an even better way we can assist the good people of Papua New Guinea in their time of read need.

As I have said the churches provide around half the nation's health services. With additional funding they could do more and definitely more to ease pressure on the public hospital and health systems, especially in rural and remote areas.

The federal government should convene a summit with Australia's church leaders and directly involve them in helping their PNG counterparts with funding, and resources, and hopefully some skilled medical personnel.