THE Government is urged to upgrade and equip hospitals around the country.
Opposition leader Jeremiah Manele made the call in parliament when contributing to the 2015 budget debate.
Mr Manale said if leaders are really serious about the health of their people, they need to properly equip the National Referral Hospital (NRH) and provincial hospitals.
He said hospitals around the country as well as the NRH lack the necessary, even some of the basic equipment that they need such as CT scan machines, MRI and ECG machines and ventilators.
Mr Manele said these are laboratory equipment that are urgently needed for certain specific tests that are important to avoid the hassle of sending test samples to Australia.
“Some of the deaths in our hospitals could have been avoided if we have the necessary equipment in place.
“Therefore, we need to properly equip our hospitals including our only referral hospital,” the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei said.
He said the 2015 Supplementary budget must make provisions to purchase these equipment.
Meanwhile, Mr Manele said much has been said about the relocation of the National Referral Hospital.
However, he said it appears that there are still a lot of consultations that have to be done by the Ministry of Health, especially in terms of whether it will be a total relocation or partial relocation in terms of the functions of the hospital.
Mr Manele said it appears that the NRH building will still be there for years to come performing certain functions whether primary, secondary, or tertiary health care services.
