PMVs snubbing sick people concerns mayor

 SICK people walking a long distance from Snack-Bar at the Lae market and Top Town to the Angau Memorial General Hospital has captured the attention of Lae Lord Mayor Koim Trilu Leahy.

Leahy is concerned that PMV operators have deliberately snubbed the route between the market and Top Town, which has the Angau bus stop in between, and are only making the Market-Eriku and Market-Top Town routes.

The Angau bus stop used to be one of the busiest and is normally used as pick-up and drop-off point for the sick, their minders and visitors. 

However, it is no longer being used because PMVs do not use that route.

People heading to the referral hospital usually walk about 300m from Snack-Bar, or about 500m from Top Town and just less than a kilometre from the main market, come rain or shine. There are known instances of sick people passing out along the way to the hospital in the heat, as well as some mothers giving birth.

“The provincial transport board must seriously look into this and strip off the operating licences of offending operators who are not taking the normal routes around Lae,” Leahy said.

“The people must not suffer like this while authorities continue to turn a blind eye,” he said.

With the road upgrading in Lae progressing  nicely, Leahy has called on the Road Safety Authority and the provincial transport board to crackdown on rogue PMVs and vehicles which are not road-worthy.

“With the new roads, we should only have road-worthy vehicles on the roads of Lae,” he said.