PNG: Post-Courier mourns loss of reporter Robyn Sela
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Post-Courier editorial, 19-21 December 2003 CANCER: NOTHING ON OFFER FOR IT HERE http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20031219/view.htm
PORT MORESBY (Post-Courier Online/Pacific Media Watch): This newspaper is now mourning the death of one of its most
outstanding young reporters ‹ Robyn Sela.
Robyn died on Wednesday [17 December 2003] night after suffering from an oral cancer that she had been fighting against
for all of this year.
It was a great tragedy that such a young and energetic person should endure so much pain and agony for an entire year
watched helplessly by her family and friends. For nearly all of the time that she was suffering from a disease that
virtually destroyed her flesh, Robyn received no medication at all, except for pain killers.
The doctors both here and at the Wesley Hospital in Australia did all they could to save her but to no avail. The cancer
had won the battle.
Saving the lives of cancer patients is a real challenge for our health system. For a start we hardly have any cancer
specialists. Then we do not have the proper equipment to manage these patients.
The only cancer unit at the Angau Memorial Hospital is defunct and efforts to purchase new equipment for the unit are
still being made. When the equipment arrives will depend on whether there is enough money available.
Morobe Governor Luther Wenge has taken the initiative to make some funds available as a contribution from the Morobe
Provincial Government.
It is a unit that serves the entire country, not just Morobe. But so far little help has come from other provinces.
There is an increasing number of Papua New Guineans dying of all forms of cancer and yet providing treatment for them
does not seem to be a high priority. All this comes down to the issue of cost and benefit.
The limited funds available to the health services goes to diseases that affect the highest number of people. Cancer
affects many people but the numbers are not as high as those suffering from malaria, TB or pneumonia. We have a long way
to go before we can afford specialist treatment for cancer sufferers.
* Robyn Sela, 30, was an outstanding police and defence reporter for the Post-Courier. The daughter of former
Post-Courier editor Luke Sela, she was a journalism graduate from the University of Papua New Guinea.
+++niuswire
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