War of words between MaPHA deputy board chairman and acting CEO

A heated argument broke out on Thursday morning between the Deputy Chairman of the Madang Provincial Health Authority [MaPHA], Young Wadau, and the Acting CEO, Dr Sammy Thomas, during a meeting with hospital staff.

The argument happened when Dr Thomas arrived at the hospital and found Mr Wadau already speaking to the staff. Dr Thomas was apparently not happy and attempted to stop the meeting, however; was met with stiff opposition from the deputy chairman.

The meeting was initiated by the Madang branch of the National Doctors’ Association [NDA]. They had planned to speak with MaPHA’s senior management earlier in the week, but the meeting did not happen because Dr Thomas said he was sick. Since the MaPHA Board Chairman, Dr Boga Figa, was not available, the doctors asked Deputy Chairman Wadau to attend instead.

Just a minute into Mr Wadau’s talk, Dr Thomas walked up to him and said, “I’ll stop you right there.” This started a five-minute argument in front of hospital staff.

Dr. Thomas told Mr Wadau he was overstepping the administrative boundaries to which Wadau disagreed, stating, "we are talking about an issue here. An issue that was raised by the NDA."

Dr. Thomas repeatedly stated that a letter that Mr Wadau wrote was wrong. Wadau pointed out to Dr. Thomas that he, as the deputy board chairman, was not answerable to him as the acting CEO.

Dr. Thomas said he understood that and respected him. Further, he told Wadau that he would take him to task over what he did.

One of the main issues discussed at the meeting was the eviction of doctors from their homes. Landlords had removed them because MaPHA had not paid rent. The doctors had tried to raise this issue on Tuesday, but the meeting didn’t happen because of Dr Thomas’ absence. They have now given MaPHA seven days to fix the accommodation problem.

Besides the doctors' unpaid rentals, several other issues concerning human resource and the general rundown status of the hospital facilities were also raised during the meeting.

Mr Wadau told Dr Thomas that he could speak after him, but Dr Thomas left the meeting, saying he had already said what he needed to say. Wadau later said the meeting on Thursday would not have been necessary if Dr Thomas had met with the doctors on Tuesday.

Soon after the argument, Madang MP Bryan Kramer arrived at the hospital. After listening to a presentation by the hospital's executive manager on the status of the level 5 hospital, he took a walk around the wards, escorted by senior doctors and nurses, and saw for himself the appalling state of facilities.

Kramer immediately committed Madang DDA's support to help fix the ablution facilities, most of which are unusable at the moment.

He also took it upon himself during the meeting to directly contact the Department of Finance to immediately release MaPHA's April grant of K2. 3 million.

Finance responded almost immediately to Kramer, advising that the funds were ready.