Committed Lab Tech

 I know public hospitals in our country are often seen in a negative light. But there are committed people in our public health system as well who dont make the news yet saving lives is their duty. 

This morning, at Modilon hospital, I saw this lab technician. He arrived at work on time, prepared himself, then came out and attended to everyone on time - made sure all the referral slips had the government payment receipt attached and then pricked people's fingers or drew blood from their arms. There were around 15 people waiting in line. He was efficient and he was smartly dressed too. He was clean shaven, wore good shoes, had long black jeans, tucked his clean buttoned shirt in, had a mask over his face yet explained the process in a calm voice acknowledging sick patients in the waiting line. He did the tests on the blood, came out with the results for multiple patients in under an hour.

Front access of the Modilon General Hospital, Madang

I was sitting in the long lines, observing people waiting in line too- Papua New Guineans - who were very sick, frail, holding crutches, in wheelchairs, their arms and legs in bandages and cement casts. Their eyes looking into distant spaces, their minds wandering so far from the hospital spaces. This health worker who was doing his daily job, understood the enormity of the task and diligently carried out his work. He may not have realized this but displaying empathy and engaging people in a dignified manner means so much to people. 

Tonight I pray that whoever he is or where he is at, Papa God yet bai blessim em lo wei blong em yet na lo taim blong em yet!

The reoccurring TESAS issue

 Today the DWU students went on a peaceful protest inside the DWU campus.

Chanting 'Pay Up' 'Pay Up', the marched around the campus from the main admin carpark to the staff mess, the St John Paul Hall to 9.30 junction then back past Kibung place all the way to the main admin car park again. They were using their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to express their disappointment to the government of the day to for not paying on time the government component of the scholarship. 

When students are accepted into university in Papua New Guinea, the system in the country is that the universities employ a user pay policy.  There are two types of paying student - a fully self financed student and a student assisted by the Government. The student that is assisted by the government has to pay their owing university fee and the government will then come on board with the other portion. The government financial assistance known as Tertiary Education Student Assistance Scheme (TESAS) comes in two forms - HECAS and AES. The benefits include Tuition Fee, Boarding and Lodging, Travel Allowance, Student resource allowance, and fortnightly allowance. The fortnightly allowance hasn't been happening in recent years. 

The Academic Excellence Scholarship (AES) is usually paid for the top academic students that covers tuition and boarding & lodging fees. It is an academic merit award and is highly competitive. The Higher Education Contribution Assistance Scheme (HECAS) is another government scholarship that assists deserving students who may not qualify for AES but still perform well academically. 

 At the beginning of the year, the Government through DHERST announced scholarship of over 15,000 students who would receive TESAS. However, to date, the Government has not paid a significant component of the TESAS funding to DWU this year of K2million. This is not a new issue and has been happening over the past couple of years. Last year (2024) DWU faced the same issue with a payment of K5million in in 2023 DWU was owed K4million in TESAS monies. This time, DWU has been forced to deregister students at the beginning of the semester as it could not keep operating on debt while awaiting the TESAS component of the students fees. The deregistered students then showed their frustration and called on the Government to fulfil its part. 

Ends//