Hospital scales down services

National

Mt Hagen Hospital has been forced to scale down all services from last Friday due to a shortage of water.
According to a statement from the Western Highlands health authority, the situation has been made worse by rumours of the whole city’s water supply being poisoned with dangerous chemicals, preventing staff from turning up for work.
The provincial health authority management advises that only skeleton staff would be available to attend to emergencies and other very critical cases.
“The public is urged to understand the situation and co-operate by not harassing staff and leaving the health authority’s properties alone.
“This including its vehicles which are used to transport staff to and from work as well as other duties.
“The authority is hoping that the water situation would be resolved as early as possible.
“And also the banks and shops would re-open soon so that all services at the hospital could return to normal. We are here to help the sick and injured.
“We want to do that but people must understand we need support to do so by keeping our staff and properties safe.”
With the banks and shops closed for the whole week, staff need to move around and find money and food to feed their families and attend to patients and they must do that freely and not be harassed or intimidated unnecessarily, the provincial health authority management said.