Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Report that Joseph Kabui had stopped heart medication because of cost

Posted at 02:43 on 11 June, 2008 UTC

Joseph Kabui, the late President of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville, told a journalist last week he had stopped taking his heart medicine four months ago because he couldn’t afford it and felt ashamed to ask for help.

Mr Kabui’s body has been taken to Arawa after a state funeral yesterday in Port Moresby.

He died on Saturday following years of heart problems.

A journalist with the Post-Courier newspaper, Gorethy Kenneth, says Mr Kabui told her just 12 hours before his death, that he was using a local water tonic rather than medicine for his heart condition.

She says he told her the daily medication was costly, and that he would also have to find money to pay for an airfare to reach his next medical review in Townsville, scheduled for later this month.