Enga transfers hospital to Sopas and replaces with new Highlands referal hospital

Governor Peter Ipatas

The Enga provincial government has announced the transfer of the Wabag Provincial Hospital to the former Seventh-Day Adventist Church-run health facility at Sopas.

Enga Governor Peter Ipatas told hospital staff and villagers after meeting with the provincial management teamand provincial executive council members last Friday that his government had made the decision to make way for the new hospital to be built at Aipus, near Wabag.

He said Sopas, where the Enga Nursing School would have its first intake of 40 students starting next year, would remain a district hospital for Wabag.
The new 150-bed hospital construction will start next year and cost more than K320 million to be delivered for opening in 2015, Ipatas said.

He said an American hospital designing and building consultant company would present the final touches on the plan to stakeholders next month.
He said according to plan, the new hospital would become a regional referral medical facility for the Highlands, including the gas-rich provinces of Hela and Southern Highlands.

Ipatas said the provincial hospital site would be turned into a commercial area, with the building of two warehouses and a number of supermarkets. Ipatas thanked the O’Neill Government for approving funding for the new hospital, particularly when health services in the country needed critical attention.

It is understood Ipatas and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill will travel to China to secure a loan for the hospital project next month.

Source: The National, Monday October 7th, 2013