Institute loses valuable equipment, info and data in fire

By SCHOLAR KASSAS
THE PNG Institute of Medical Research (IMR) laboratory at the Modilion General Hospital in Madang has lost all its valuable equipment, information and data in a fire that destroyed a hospital building on Monday night.
Hospital chief executive officer Fidelis Waipma said the building was the ward 4C that was converted into the hospital library and training room and also housed the PNG IMR laboratory.
The front section of the same building was the paediatrics TB ward.
Waipma said the fire, at around 11.45pm, engulfed the entire place quickly.
“The Madang Fire Service team arrived just in time to control the fire from spreading to the paediatrics TB ward which saved the ward, with no injury or harm to the patients,” he said.
Waipma said the fire was believed to have been caused by constant power fluctuations experienced during the day and continued into the night.
He recommended to the Health Department that an enquiry to identify the actual cause of the fire be established soon.