Modilon’s top job crisis goes to court

HEALTH authorities and relevant government departments will be made to appear in court to explain the legality of the appointment of the new chief executive officer of Modilon General Hospital.
Sr Christine Gawi was recently appointed as the acting CEO despite dissatisfaction by  health workers there over how she was handling health worker issues at the hospital.
Young Wedau, lawyer representing the 201 Modilon staff petition, now before the National Court, pointed this out last week.
He said  this was the logical first step forward in resolving the differences between the hospital workers and management.
“We will file an originating summons for a judicial review on the interim orders taken out on Sept 14 by Thomas Elijah.
“We will request that those previous orders be terminated; request that the hospital management not take disciplinary action against staff (after a warning memo was sent to staff) and the fact that there was no damages done to either hospital property or staff prior, during and after the sit-in protest,” he said.
After court last Thursday, Wedau said that during the time that the court ordered for the staff and management to reach a compromise.
 Despite the order, there had been no attempt to meet at all, no corrective measures taken and the issue remained, which was detrimental to the health services delivery.
“This issue is straight forward.
“There has been nothing from either the board, minister or the secretary on how she was appointed, even when Gawi was on an acting basis,  they did not,  by way of an instrument of acting appointment,  show cause.
Wedau added that her contract had already expired.
“She was on an acting capacity for the last three years without a contract; that is wrong,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, staff have resumed normal duties as ordered by the court but sign up everyday as a means to monitor their whereabouts and not use the legal wrangle to skip work.
 The National had been reliably told that prior to the current bitter feud with most specialists leaving, Modilon hospital was now losing its reputation as one of the leading training hospitals in the country.
A medical staff asked: “Specialists doctors are leaving the hospital. Who is going to train the students?
“Normally, students are supposed to do ward rounds with doctors giving bedside lectures but that has been lost.
“If there is any, then it is definitely a rushed one as one cannot spend time in one ward for long when they are needed in an emergency in accidents and emergency, labour ward or elsewhere.”