Angau scales down services

 By PISAI GUMAR

HEALTH services at Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, Morobe, were scaled down yesterday, union president Steven Nawik said.

He said staff would only attend to emergencies, referrals from clinics and rural health centre’s, child delivery, inpatients and the mortuary.

“People need to seek treatments from suburb clinics include Papuan compound, Haikost, Bubia, West Taraka, Tent Siti, Malahang, Bundi camp and Butibam,” Nawik said. 

“All hospital staff include national doctors and nurses; all unions include National Doctors Association (NDA), PNG nurses (PNGNA), community health workers, medical laboratory technician and Allied health with almost 400 staff all remain intact awaiting good minister to come over to Lae and address grieving staff immediately before further course of action.”

He said their petition was presented on Feb 20 to allow ample time for the responsible authorities to respond but this had not happened and resulted in the current scaling down of hospital services.

“This is our first step beginning with ‘scale down’ phase; nurses and doctors will attend only to inpatients,” Nawik said.

Hospital board chairman Benson Nablu said the administration had tried to address the issue of nurses accommodation  by building two duplexes containing 16 rooms and a flat comprising eight rooms allowing 24 staff to move in.

“The board also requires sufficient land to build accommodation for the staff,” Nablu said.

The opening of accommodation coincided with the farewell for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without borders) and opening of rehabilitated accident and emergency wing last Friday.

Nablu also urged the hospital staff not to accommodate relatives and turn the state property into marketing areas.