PNG Power forces doctors into hotels

By ELIAS LARI
SIX doctors and their families at the Mendi General Hospital have been forced to live in a hotel because PNG Power has not connected electricity to their homes.
The doctors had recently accepted to work at the hospital in the Southern Highlands capital.
The doctors came from Port Moresby, Lae, Kavieng and Goroka.
Hospital chief executive officer Joseph Turian said the doctors were accepted to work in the hospital but the delay by PNG Power had forced the hospital to put them up in hotels.
Turian said the Works Department office in Mendi had paid the connection fees last October but nothing had been done by the power supplier.
He said he personally went to the PNG Power office and reminded them many times but they always made empty promises.
Turian said the doctors had children and baby sitters and it was not right to squeeze them into hotel rooms.
He said the doctors needed to cook their own food and wash their clothes in a house.
Turian called on PNG Power to connect electricity to the doctors’ houses.
“How would you feel if you are residing in hotel rooms with your children, wife and baby sitters?” Turian asked.
He said last week, he was informed by staff at PNG Power that they would go to Chimbu to get some equipment for connecting electricity on the weekend but they never did.
The PNG Power office in Mendi could not be reached for comments.