Specialists leaving Modilon in numbers

MADANG’S Modilon General Hospital’s problems are far from over with the lack of specialist doctors as many were leaving Madang due to the hospital’s current management problem.
This was revealed during the ongoing management crisis meeting this week between staff and management.
The meeting was told that many of the hospital’s units or wings were looked after by experienced nurses who stood in most times for specialist doctors while other jobs were done by trained technicians.
Sr Diane Liriope, when highlighting the urgent need for a consensus to be reached, asked again who from the management they were going to meet with since management was now a “one-man show”.
“We have all these issues to resolve. There is no obstetrician in the gynecology ward and that is evident in the two deaths that were reported over the weekend,” she said.
Other issues highlighted were the hospital’s shortage of general anesthetic, lack of special equipment for the intensive care unit which operated on an ad hoc basis with critically ill patients being denied services at the hospital’s intensive care unit.
She said there were only two trained specialist doctors on board – one was a senior physiotherapist  and  the other was the  chief paediatrician, whose jobs were often shared with other trained technicians when needed.
Midwives have been bearing the brunt of the labour ward, running the show with the recent delivery of a 5kg baby by a Central mother.
Senior physiotherapist Hugh Saweni said the hospital was not attracting the doctors because the working environment was not conducive for many of them to fit in.