Nurses association wants allowances paid

By LULU MARK
THE sit-in protest by nurses at Modilon Hospital demanding for their special domestic market allowance (SDMA) on Monday should be addressed by the hospital’s management and Madang provincial health authority (PHA), an official says.
Papua New Guinea Nurses Association (PNGNA) executive Frederick Kebai told The National yesterday that the SMDA of K5,000 per annum was applicable to specialist nurses such as midwives, paediatric, mental health, intensive care unit and emergency nurses.
He said the province had around 200 specialist nurses with half of them at Modilon. He said some hospitals in the country such Goroka, Eastern Highlands, and Port Moresby were yet to pay nurses’ allowances.
Kebai said PNGNA executives and members from Madang had three meetings with the hospital’s management on the issue, however, nothing had been done.