· More than 30 district health workers completed a three-day training on the World Bank Environment and Social Framework, Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) and, Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) in Simbu last week.

The health workers included officers in charge (OICs) of health facilities, infection prevention control (IPC) officers, and environmental health officers from 30 health facilities including Catholic Church Health Services PNG and Kundiawa General Hospital.

The Safeguards Requirments, GRM, and health care waste management trainings were conducted by the World Bank Pacific-funded Impact Health PNG Project implemented by the Papua New Guinea National Department of Health (NDoH) as part of the World Bank requirements.

About 100 health care workers from three provinces including Simbu, East Sepik, and Central have so far attended these trainings this year.

The workshop covered an overview of the GRM, different conflicts and social issues faced by health workers or health facilities, different ways of seeking redress and solving conflicts, processes involved in handling and resolving conflicts, working with different stakeholders and parties in solving conflicts, and developing action plans to establish complaints mechanism such as installing suggestion boxes by which patients or clients may raise issues of concern. The workshop also covered information on healthcare waste management and waste segregation.

Simbu Provincial Health Authority (SiPHA) Acting Public Health Director Arnold Marme told participants when officially opening the training that while health workers usually focus on carrying out their routine duties, they forget that feedback is also very important.

“We do the routines of what we normally do but we don’t get feedback from our service recipients – our clients – whether service is good or not and how we need to improve,” Mr. Marme told participants.

“The country is 50 years old and we are dealing with an educated population who are participating and benefiting from our services. Many times, we do not provide them with opportunities to contribute to the services we offer. We provide these services without thinking about how these services are received – whether they like it or not,” he said.

“That is why we want to install mechanisms by which they can have a say in the services we provide and we also have the opportunity to improve the services we provide. This is the intention of this training and we are happy and welcome you to this important workshop,” Mr. Marme told participants.

Setting up processes to be able to address grievances is a requirement for all World Bank-funded projects. It is also one of the Impact Health PNG Project objectives; to create demand for services and is important in the health care system for patient engagement, data integration and, patient acquisition among others.

GRMs help healthcare workers engage with patients effectively, ensuring patients feel understood and cared for. GRM systems integrate various sources of patient data to provide a comprehensive view of patients’ habits and activities and help with creating demand for healthcare services if patients or clients feel they are being heard. By managing a patient relationship before, during and, after treatment, GRM systems play a vital role in patient acquisition and retention.

Simbu Provincial Health Authority CEO Dr. Ken Kassi who closed the workshop thanked the health workers who attended.

He encouraged the district participants to continue doing their best and more.

He also reminded participants not to be ‘too busy’ with their daily chores so as to miss picking up on and addressing issues that may lead to grievances when dealing with patients and clients. He reiterated that GRM is important because it provides opportunities to do better and improve health service delivery at the frontlines.

The GRM training is being planned to be conducted with East New Britian PHA next.

The IMPACT Health: Improving Access to and Value from Health Services in PNG Project is a results-based project funded by the World Bank in partnership with the Government of PNG and is implemented by the NDoH.