Doctor attack condemned

 By JAMES GUMUNO

THE Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority has condemned the assault on a doctor by relatives of a patient last Saturday.

Board chairman David Guinn and authority chief executive officer Dr James Kintwa said in a joint statement on Tuesday that such action inside a hospital ward was unwarranted, especially in front of patients.

Guinn and Kintwa said for people to publicly assault and drag a senior doctor out of a ward was a criminal action and totally unacceptable.

They said this after relatives of a terminally-ill cancer patient who died at the Mt Hagen Hospital last Saturday attacked and severely injured a doctor as he arrived to attend to the patient.

Doctors held a meeting on Monday and presented a number of demands to the board and management to address by yesterday, including getting those concerned to apologise to the doctor.

Theysaid such action by the public created fear among hospital staff.

“We have had difficulty trying to attract doctors for our hospital, given the image of our people and such assaults do not make the situation any better,” they said.