To find out more about our Incentive Fund grants, click here: Enquiry form.

Improved health facility at Bosset increases survival rate for locals

Upgrades to the Bosset Health Centre in Western Province mean close to 14,000 people in the upper Middle Fly District can now access healthcare services without making the difficult and expensive journey to the main hospital at Kiunga.

The upgraded health facilities will improve health outcomes, including an increase in supervised births, reduced childhood and maternal mortality rates, increased child immunisation rates, and improved uptake and adherence to HIV and TB treatments. The survival rates for those treated with serious injuries will also improve with a newly constructed operating theatre, inpatient/outpatient departments, emergency and observation rooms, treatment rooms, laboratory, dental clinic and general wards.

Forty-seven-year-old Alex is lucky to be alive today. In early June 2024, the father of 3 children from Kulinti Village was hunting in the bush when he was attacked and bitten by wild pigs. Alex was quickly brought to Bosset Health Centre for treatment.

Community health worker, Awana Pau, was on duty when Alex was brought in as an emergency case.

“I was on-call when the dinghy brought the patient to the waterfront late in the afternoon. He was unable to walk up, so we put him on a stretcher and brought him to the emergency ward,” said Awana.

Alex was severely injured with multiple bites to his right thigh and left shoulder which caused him to lose a lot of blood. He was dehydrated and could not walk or move. Once his wounds were cleaned and stitched up, he was moved to the outpatient ward.

“He lost a lot of blood from his injuries. If we did not have a health facility like Bosset in this remote area, Alex would have died because of hemorrhage or from the infected wounds and developed septicemia,” said Awana.

Emergency cases like this were previously referred to Kiunga District Hospital, which is 8 hours by boat. However, with the upgraded and improved facilities at Bosset, staff can treat emergencies and provide quality healthcare services using the new emergency and treatment rooms, and outpatient wards. Alex stayed at the health centre for 3 weeks, where he fully recovered before being discharged to go home.

Bosset Health Centre is a lifesaver for many villagers like Alex who live in the dense hinterland of the Middle Fly area. The upgraded and newly constructed facilities at Bosset Health Centre were completed through a PGK16.8 million Incentive Fund grant to Catholic Health Services – Kiunga.

The Incentive Fund is an Australian Government competitive grants program that seeks to improve social and economic development outcomes for Papua New Guinea communities.