PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Aerial Health Patrols from Kompian Hospital

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) was founded some 75 years ago, and now flies 124 aircraft in 26 countries, landing in jungles, swamps and on mountain tops in remote regions where help and hope cannot reach, or in many circumstances can only do so after a trek of several days. But with these flights comes high operational and maintenance costs. After helping MAF operations in Kenya in 2021, we are now returning in 2022 to fund some of their flights in Papua New Guinea.

Our funds will provide several hours flying time for airborne medical patrols, using one of MAF’s Cessna C208 Grand Caravan aircraft, carrying medical teams from Kompian hospital, deep in the remote north of Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province. Flying to villages such as Pyalaruma, Yenkisa and Eleme, (the exact villages flown to will only be decided with the issuance of MAF’s Niugini’s 2022 flying schedules in early 2022) each of which is reachable by a flight of just over one hour through mountainous terrain. Each flight will carry a team consisting of a doctor, a dentist, health workers and a pastor, who on landing will split their time between running a medical clinic offering general patient practice and vaccinations.

In 2019, MAF’s flight operations in Niugini reached 3,723 individuals; allowing the flights to reach villages otherwise reachable only after a long trek though inhospitable mountain terrain. These Medical Patrol flights also often enable medevacs for those who would be unlikely to survive being carried to the nearest medical care facility which on average lies 60 miles away.

Our funding will therefore assist in providing flights to isolated communities, bringing the medical assistance that can change the villagers’ lives.