Young drunken youths stormed Lorengau General Hospital on Friday night (August 11, 2017) and early hours of Saturday during the weekend and terrorised hospital staff.
They also vandalised hospital properties and stole personal items for the guidance for the sick patients, Police Chief revealed.
Manus Provincial Police Commander, Chief Inspector David Yapu was very frustrated of the incident and appealed to the community leaders and the people at the surrounding community to assist the Police and bring the suspects to the Police to be dealt with.
PPC Yapu said Lorengau General Hospital plays a vital role in the community by providing health services to the sick and badly injured people. He also stressed that hospital staff’s welfare must be of high importance.
PPC Yapu also called for an urgent meeting which was attended by the CEO of the hospital, Councillors of Ward 6 and 7, the Executive Manager of the Law and Justice Sector and other community leaders to discuss the issue and how best they can deal with it.
The CEO of the hospital expressed his sentiment at the meeting. He stressed that if his staff continue to be harassed and intimidated by criminal elements, he would close the outpatient and only attend to emergencies. He said the safety of his staff is paramount and should be protected at all times.
Yapu had given the community until Wednesday, 16 August 2017, to bring the suspects in, if this does not happen, PPC Yapu said he will instruct his Policemen to use full force to flush the suspects out of the community and get them to face the full force of the law.
Yapu also confirmed that several incidents took place on the weekend involving the same youth who stabbed a Highlands man on the head with a piece of timber, the injured man was rushed to the hospital. A woman has also sustained knife injuries by the youth.
PPC Yapu wants an end to all the social problems caused by misbehaving youth in the small town of Lorengau and urges all community to work together with Police, bringing those involved to justice.
