January 20, 2023

Students Provide Vital Medical Care to Remote Villages

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Seventh-day Adventist medical students from Divine Word University provided free basic medical care to people living in a remote region of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, from December 4 to 11, 2022.

With the theme “Reaching the Unreached,” the outreach involved medical students from both Divine Word and the University of Papua New Guinea who were assigned to nine different locations, accompanied by a pastor. One of these sites was Dome village, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Kiunga town in North Fly District. Dome is divided into two villages, with 75 percent of the population of both villages being West Papuans and 30 percent native Papua New Guineans. People living in these villages cannot typically afford to get medical treatment from the main hospital.

Divine Word University Adventist medical students with Captain Philip (center) at Kagamuga Airport, Mt. Hagen, Western Highlands Province, preparing for their departure to Kiunga. [Photo: Adventist Record]

First-year student Japheth Kerowa (left) dressing a sore on the leg of a patient. [Photo: Adventist Record]

Fourth-year Seventh-day Adventist medical student Angolberth Tawampe (left) checking a sick child’s temperature. [Photo: Adventist Record]

The goal of the students was to show God’s love through medical ministry, organizers said. They carried out basic health checks and provided treatments for various diseases and ailments. One of the challenges they faced was that most of the people speak Ternate, the language of northern Maluku, eastern Indonesia, and this made communication difficult for both medical students and patients. The students sought help from the local people to translate Ternate to Tok Pisin or English so they could diagnose the patients’ diseases.

The students found the people living in Dome village were in dire need of access to medical supplies for basic health care. They were fortunate to get some medical supplies from Madang General Hospital.

The students treated more than 200 patients and assisted at four mobile clinics. They referred 22 patients to the Kiunga District Hospital. They also ran awareness talks about breast cancer, cervical cancer, pediatric immunization, nutrition, and the dangers of smoking.

The medical outreach was held just before the 19th biannual convention of the Papua New Guinea Adventist Tertiary Students Association, which was held in Kiunga.

The original version of this story was posted by Adventist Record.

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