By Michelle Amba – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Mt Hagen General Hospital will close for an indefinite period.
This decision was made by the Board and Management of the hospital this afternoon after more than 200 doctors and nurses refused to work.
The outpatient is closed and the management is now forced to move around 200 in-patients out of the hospital.
Patients who are not critically ill will be transferred to other clinics within the province, while Acting CEO, Dr David Mokela, is now calling on other hospitals within the Highlands region to take in critically ill patients.
The management says the actions of the doctors and nurses are in defiance of a national court order, which was served to them this morning.
The order stops them from resigning from work which comes after 23 doctors resigned last Friday.
Health Secretary, Pascoe Kase, said in a statement today that officers pursuing their resignation will face immediate termination with the extreme of their salaries and benefits ceasing the same day.
Kase said he is in consultation with relevant parties and a government team from Port Moresby will be in Mt Hagen by the end of this week as a matter of urgency.
The stop work by the doctors and nurses follow their allegation of mismanagement and corruption at the hospital and with the provincial health authority.
