Drug supplies are slowly starting to be restored in Papua New Guinea, easing a nationwide crisis that has seen some hospitals closed and others driven to the brink.
Hospitals have complained of being under-supplied for months and that was exacerbated when the government's drug-buying tender lapsed in December with no replacement.
But last week, with hospitals on the brink of collapse and doctors threatening to strike, the government finally stepped up to fix the tender issues.
Mt Hagen Hospital, which is PNG's third-largest Photo: EMTV
Mt Hagen Hospital's deputy chief executive, David Vorst, said drugs are now starting to return to his hospital, which had completely run out of supplies last week.
"Drugs are starting to flow into the hospital. They're also talking about starting to restock some of the rural units because they're also out of stock," Mr Vorst said.
"So while we've got a long way to go there is certainly a flow of drugs coming into the hospital and we are hoping that in two to three weeks we will have at least our base stock back in the pharmacy."