The president of Papua New Guinea's Nurses Association says a complete overhaul of the health system is needed.
Hospitals in the country were again in the grip of a supply and drug shortage, and 40 percent of aid posts around the country were closed.
Papua New Guinea's Nurses Association president Frederick Kebai said the system for procuring drugs was broken.
Mr Kebai said there were too many middle men and there was too much nepotism in the process, and money and supplies often went missing before they reached clinics.
"Drugs don't go down all the way to the people, they seem to disappear in the middle. So really the way that I see it, they should really concentrate on a standard way of procurement of drugs and the supply from that top level right down to the people," Mr Kebai said.