Prime Minister James Marape opened the multipurpose hall at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Port Moresby city today, marking the start of things for the establishment of the proposed new medical university.
The UPNG School of Medicine and Health Sciences is on its way to becoming the new University of Medicine and Health Sciences after Parliament’s passing of the legislation enabling its inception at its last sitting in October 2025.
“I want to thank the University of PNG and Chancellor, Sir Robert Igara, and the Executive Dean of the Medical Faculty, Prof. Nakapi Tefuarani, for working very hard to make this small but important milestone and a pointer, a moment in our nation’s history to remind us of what can be done if we work together in the direction we must take travelling forward,” said Prime Minister Marape.
“UPNG, let this campus go. This country needs its own medical university. The statistics is compelling – the doctor-to-patient ratio in Papua New Guinea is among the lowest in the world. For 10 million people, we now need up to 10,000 doctors to be on par with world levels.
“This is why it is of the utmost importance to get this university up at the earliest, and I give to you our government’s fullest commitment to getting this university up as soon as possible. Before we step out into the 2030’s, this campus must be fully functional to meet the needs of our country going forward.
“We hope as we set up the new university, enrolment increases, vacancies are filled, and we get to employ enough doctors in the country and send doctors and medical practitioners out to our region.”
The Prime Minister said he sees the strong value of having the medical university independent of the University of PNG and functioning symbiotically with the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) – both because of their physical location next to each other and professionally because of the relationship of the work they do. He said his government is determined to upgrade PMGH to a Level 7 status hospital as it develops the new university to its highest potential.
