Administrator reinstates sacked staff

 FIVE sacked senior officers of the Goroka Provincial Hospital have been reinstated by newly-appointed administrator Ken Wai.

Wai, who was recently appointed by Cabinet as the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority administrator, ordered that they be reinstated to their substantive positions without delay. 

He was appointed to sort out the fallout between the hospital management and senior staff.

The officers are hospital manager and paediatrician Dr Francis Wandi, anaesthetic officer Forereme Marime, community health workers – Barnabas Pipike and Nelson Abu – and lab technician John Kale.

Authority chief executive officer Lillian Siwi said 41 staff had tendered in their resignations. These include 18 of the 158 nurses, 22 of the 77 community health workers and one from the 22 doctors.

There was a mass resignation of Tuesday but some had since withdrawn their letters.

“Almost half of the staff who tendered their resignation withdrew their papers and reported that they were forced to resign,” Siwi said.

Siwi did not elaborate on the management’s withdrawal of a court restraining order taken against staff not to stage meetings.