I met a man today who lives on the far side of the Jimi Valley. To get here he has to get in an
airplane which cost 240K each way – about $250 round trip to come and go. Many of our patients live right nearby,
but many others actually travel quite a distance to come.
Some walk a day or two, others, like this man, take a plane, but still
others travel via car on a PMV (public motor vehicles). PMVs are the main source of
transportation for all in PNG. They
typically are 15 seater vans that they squeeze about 20 people in. Sometimes they are open bed trucks with
guys standing up in the back. I
recently asked some folks how much they spend to get here and this is what they
said.
Mendi 25 Kina
Wapanemunda
10 Kina
Donna
8 Kina
Aviamp
1 Kina
Banz
1 Kina
Minj
2 Kina
Lae
70 Kina
Hagen
4 Kina
Pangia
19 Kina
Middle
Jimi 20 Kina
Tari
69 Kina
Goroka
30 Kina
Baiyer
15 Kina
Divide by 2 to get the approx US dollar amt. It was quite amazing to me to think how much patients are spending to get to us. Some do it every month, as they have a chronic condition, others come just once or twice, but it is still quite a bit of money for many of them to spend.