Fix up the mess at Goroka Hospital

 THE Goroka Provincial Hospital is in a shambles.

The hospital manager and four senior staff members were sacked last week and this week about 400 staff walked off their jobs in protest over the deteriorating facilities and the alleged dra­conian style of management of the newly established Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority.

What else could possibly go wrong with the former Goroka Base Hospital that was once the pride of the Highlands region?

Quick intervention by Health Minister Michael Ma­labag on Monday in announcing the suspension of the PHA and an immediate inquiry into its management was just what the doctor ordered. It is now in the interest of the affected staff to withdraw their resignations and resume their duties while waiting for the proper treatment from the National Government. The sacked senior staff, including the hospital manager, should be reinstated in good faith.

As for the PHA, their style of management leaves a lot to be desired and the investigation ordered by Ma­labag should reveal the root causes of the problems and the blunders, if any, of chief executive officer Lillian Siwi.

Interestingly, Siwi remained unperturbed and seemingly ignorant of the chaotic situation in her front yard.She even denied that the hospital staff had resigned en masse. “We did not receive any resignation papers from any staff at the hospital, no one has resigned.” If the CEO had been hibernating all this time then she certainly got a rude awakening from the Health Minister this week.

The leaders and people of Eastern Highlands are well aware that Goroka hospital has been critically ill for quite some time.

Back in 2013 when it was diagnosed that Goroka could not treat critically ill patients and was referring them to Kundiawa’s Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Hospital in neighbouring Chimbu, provincial and health authorities should have taken affirmative mea­sures to resolve the problems that were plaguing the hospital’s management and operations.

The only leader who showed some concern at the time was Goroka MP Bire Kimasopa who petitioned for the removal of the hospital management to allow a caretaker administrator to run the hospital. 

Calling on the management to resign, Kimisopa said, “The attrition rate for specialised clinicians and doctors is very high given the deplorable state of the hospital … I will personally take up with Health Minister Michael Malabag and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on the state of the hospital because it is located in my electorate.”

Kimisopa’s concern was understandable, given that Goroka was once the main referral hospital for the Highlands Region. 

In its heydays, the hospital was the pride of Goroka and Eastern Highlands with its clean and modern facilities and a highly efficient staff of doctors, nurses and medical personnel. Its school of nursing was the envy of many hospitals.

Sadly, that gleam is long gone and the hospital has been only sitting and watching another Goroka-based medical institution, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, go from strength to strength with financial assistance of global oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, the developer of the PNG LNG Project.

It made a lot of sense at the time for residents of Goroka town and the people of Eastern Highlands to rally behind Kimisopa and to actively support his bid to not only save their hospital but their lives in the event they fall sick and become critically ill. No one bothered to pursue the issue, not even Governor Julie Soso, who was still undergoing her probation after winning the 2012 election.

In 2013 Goroka hospital was without vital life-supporting facilities such as the steriliser, X-ray, surgeries, blood bank and pathology.

The deplorable situation was compounded by the fact that the hospital was without a chief executive officer because the previous CEO had left to take charge of the newly established Provincial Health Authority.The position was later downgraded and a hospital manager was appointed.

Nonetheless, the problems have persisted over the past two years and eventually blew up in the face of provincial and national health authorities this week.

It’s now time to fix up the mess at Goroka hospital once and for all.