Do not reinstate doctors, nurses at Goroka hospital

 I SUPPORT Police Minister and Henganofi MP Robert Atiyafa that the doctors and nurses who recently resigned from their positions at the Goroka Provincial Hospital should not be allowed back to work. 

Their resignations should be received and effectively implemented through the Department of Personnel Management and they should be taken off the payroll. 

These doctors and other medical staff have shown that they do not have the spirit of service public servants should have but instead have plainly and clearly displayed how selfish they are by showing little regard to the people they should be serving. 

They have put their interest doctors and nurses awards (payment for extra duties) first and not allowed time for due process to take place by the health department to meet their these claims. 

As for the state of the provincial hospital, it did not run down overnight nor in a year or two but over a period of year’s right under the very noses, watch and administration of these very doctors’ and nurses prior to the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority (EHPHA) being created. 

The past provincial CEOs, hospital managers and senior staff are the ones responsible. 

However, they are now jumping up and down, pointing fingers to the EHPHA management stating that the decline of the hospital and its equipment is because of the management being in office for the past year and a half.

 Furthermore, the hospital’s medical staff say the EHPHA management should also be blamed for the run-down state of the Goroka hospital. 

However, they are ignorant of the true facts about the state of Goroka hospital.

They also know very well that to fix the hospital and also to meet the other claims by doctors will take time. 

There are government policy guidelines and processes in place to follow to meet these. 

It does not take overnight to fix things but the fixing has already begun. 

The health workers must now forget about internal politics and work together as a team to lift the standards of health facilities throughout the Eastern Highlands, especially at the Goroka provicial hospital, while their awards are being processed.

The Health Minister must intervene immediately to resolve this issue.

Mere Ambane

Goroka