Obo Health Centre struggles with water shortages amid El Niño conditions

Obo Health Centre in Western Province’s Middle Fly District is struggling to maintain basic supplies as a prolonged dry spell leaves its water tanks empty.

Officer-in-Charge Junlai Nawalin said patients continued to seek treatment for stomach aches, diarrhoea, vomiting, coughs, itchy throats and asthma. He said the health centre had not recorded a disease outbreak.

Smoke from continuous bushfires has worsened air quality and triggered breathing difficulties among patients with existing asthma. “We are also seeing asthma cases coming in due to the continuous bushfires and huge amounts of smoke polluting the area and triggering known asthmatic patients to become short of breath,” Nawalin said.

The facility is also treating a seven-year-old boy who suffered serious burns in a bushfire. Dried vegetation surrounds the health centre, while staff and patients face limited access to water, firewood and food. The situation has prompted calls for urgent support for the facility and nearby communities while the dry conditions continue.

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We are also seeing asthma cases coming in due to the continuous bushfires and huge amounts of smoke polluting the area and triggering known asthmatic patients to become short of breath.