Balimo HospitalFacility

Balimo Hospital is a public hospital situated in Balimo, Western Province, Papua New Guinea. It offers general medical care, public health, surgery and maternity services. Balimo Hospital has had no doctor for the last 15 years. It has been run by young HEOs and nurses, most of whom were Middle Fly District locals. The hospital was in the old school of nursing building, a temporary arrangement, as a new hospital was being built on the old site. Balimo Hospital The hospital was seriously under-equipped, for example, lacking any ability to diagnose diabetes (no glucometer, no biochemical laboratory, no urine dipstick tests). The hospital had 30 beds, of which 12 were dedicated to mycobacterial infection. Two patients in this ward had leprosy, the remainder TB, treated as inpatient either because of failure or, in one case, side effects (blindness following ethambutol therapy). Of the general beds, around half were occupied by TB patients. Other conditions seen were; chronic osteomyelitis in a teenager, hypertension, assault (two cases of family violence, husband to wife), and pig bite. The remaining patients were TB with failure to respond to therapy (x3), or being worked up for TB diagnosis.