Riot police told to go after suspects

SOUTHERN Highlands provincial police commander Chief Supt Jimmy Onopia has issued directives to Mobile Squad 10 of Mendi to arrest the suspects involved in the ransacking of the Ialibu Hospital administration office and the medical superintendent’s house including the theft of the ambulance.
Chief Supt Onopia confirmed last Friday that the MS10 would travel to Ialibu over the weekend and have the suspects arrested.
Despite the promise made by the senior public servant, whose son was the main instigator of the incident, to hand over all 14 suspects by Friday did not eventuate.
A police source in Ialibu said they were still waiting for the suspects to be handed over.
When told that the suspects were yet to be arrested, Ialibu hospital medical superintendent Dr Youngpu Samo expressed his dissatisfaction that the police could not carry out its responsibility.
He said: “I am sick and tired already. The community is concerned about the behaviour of these youths.”
Meanwhile, the hospital continued to operate with  skeletal staff in the emergency and labour wards and the outpatient department.
The hospital staff were still upset over what happened and are demanding that the culprits be arrested immediately.
A source from the hospital said not many patients had turned up for treatment after the incident.
 He said most of them had travelled to Mendi and other neighbouring provincial hospitals to seek medical attention.