7 prisoners taken to hospital

By MARJORIE FINKEO
SIX prisoners were taken to the Daru General Hospital on Monday night and one was admitted yesterday as the typhoid outbreak toll rose at the local prison.
Daru prison acting commander Inspector Dura Geru said there was nothing much they could do but to take whoever was sick to hospital. Many were complaining of stomach pain and fever.
“One was admitted yesterday while others were rushed to the hospital on Monday.
“They were given typhoid anti-bacterial medicine to take daily,” Geru said.
A community health worker has been appointed to be based at the prison clinic because warders cannot afford to transport prisoners to the hospital every time and leave the prison under-manned.
The idea is to treat them at the prison clinic.
The nurse based at the clinic will only attend to patients during the day.
Those falling sick at night will be taken to the hospital.
He hopes the prison authorities at the headquarters in Port Moresby will move them out of the prison.
“We hope for good news by end of this week,” he said.