​O’Neill Sounds Alarm: “PNG Is Borrowing Billions While Hospitals Run Dry”

​O’Neill Sounds Alarm: “PNG Is Borrowing Billions While Hospitals Run Dry”

Papua New Guinea is heading into dangerous territory, former prime minister Peter O’Neill warned yesterday, after claiming the Government borrowed another K1 billion last week despite hospitals running out of essential medicines. O’Neill said the country’s financial priorities were “deeply alarming” and placed frontline health workers in an impossible position.

He said the new borrowing comes on top of more than K1 billion recently taken in dividends from Kumul Minerals. O’Neill claimed K600 million had been raised from local banks for the Connect PNG program and K400 million from the ADB for general budget support, bringing the total to K2 billion in a matter of weeks.

O’Neill criticised remarks made by Prime Minister James Marape to doctors and nurses last Friday, saying Marape admitted there was no cash available to buy medicines but still urged medical staff to “do more with less.” He said the Prime Minister’s comments unfairly placed blame on those working without tools.

He said Marape’s message contradicted what he had said earlier, when he accused Governors and Provincial Health Authorities of mismanaging funds and causing the shortages. O’Neill said the Government had now admitted it did not have money to fix the crisis.

O’Neill said the public was exhausted by the ongoing shortages, with families across the country blaming the Government for the suffering and preventable deaths linked to medicine stockouts. He said hospitals cannot function when even basic medicines are unavailable.

He said the Government must explain why billions are being directed into other programs instead of addressing the health emergency. “It is unacceptable for our people to be left without medicines while huge sums disappear into Waigani,” he said.

O’Neill said the Connect PNG program should be stopped immediately. “Just stop the corrupt Connect PNG and buy medicines,” he said.

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