Concern over staff shortage at hospital

By DOROTHY MARK
THE new operating theatre at the Modilon General Hospital in Madang is understaffed and the issue needs to be addressed, a doctor says.
Dr Getrude Marun, a specialist at the old theatre said there were four isolated operating rooms in the new theatre and only one anaesthetic specialist working.
Marun said the old theatre was open and the anaesthetic specialist could see what was happening to patients and attend to them quickly.
“The new theatre is isolated and the only anaesthetic specialist will not know what the patients in the other rooms are going through unless she is informed,” she said.
Marun said it would be good to have more than one anaesthetist in the new operating theatre.
She said the staff shortage was a long standing issue she had been debating for years with the hospital management and this was one of the reasons why she was restricted from entering the hospital since February this year.
Marun said she was preparing to sue the hospital over the lack of staff issue.
Hospital CEO Christine Gawi responded through the hospital public relations office yesterday and said staffing was not an issue at all because the management was taking care of everything.
Gawi did not want to speak with The National regarding hospital matters because of the coverage by the paper of a contempt charge against her last year.
Gawi was convicted for not complying with a court order.