GULF IN TROUBLE

 

BY REBECCA KUKU

The song 'yu yet kam na lukim'  said it all.

For better or worse, the allure of the land of rivers was always in the challenge of getting to Kerema, provincial capital of the Gulf Province.

Some came for a day. Some relished a wonderful weekend on Pariva Miri.

Others came, enjoyed the sago, and left with fond memories.

While many more others have fallen in love with the saksak, tima, beaches, rivers, kulau, mud crabs, barra and the isapeas.

The mud stirs your imagination. The rivers inspire your travels and the swamps welcome you.

The blue hills in the yonder beckon your soul. Gulf has always been a land of adventure.

And so this week, we leave the fighting with Taris and journey back in time to Pariva Beach.

Where the following development leaves us in awe of what might have gone wrong.

According to the former acting CEO of the Kerema General Provincial Hospital, Ben Bal, 7 doctors and three senior nurses have deserted their jobs.

Boom, if this is true, then we are in deep trouble.

Bal said that the hospital had been struggling for a while with no doctors and nurses to attend to patients.

He made this comments shortly after locals attacked and damaged the hospital yesterday morning.

According to sources on the ground, a 50-year-old woman from the nearby Siviri village passed away at the outpatient of the hospital after she was not attended to by health workers.

Police confirmed the incident and said that the police Southern Command on the ground at the time attended to the incident and stopped the rampage.

Relatives of the woman who passed away told the Post-Courier that they were frustrated because for months now there had been no doctors and nurses to attend to patients, and a lot of people had died waiting.

Bal said the hospital had eight doctors but seven had left.

“These seven are still on the Gulf PHA payroll but they are no longer serving here, they just left. Even senior nursing staff who are also still on the payroll have deserted us,” he said.

Bal said that the director of the Curative Health Services was also stood down last week so there was no leadership in the hospital.

“Something needs to be done, and the doctors and nurses must come back and serve the people,” he said.

Gulf PHA CEO Mr Vari and the acting CEO Mr Sive could not be reached for comments yesterday.