Pantang hospital cries for development

Security has become a major issue, stressing and putting lives of the Pantang Hospital workers at risk following the activities of land guards, the facility management has said.

The hospital which is not fenced has over the years seen its land encroached on by private individuals.

A matter of concern has been the safety and security of health workers at the facility.

Most of them have fallen victim to crime incidents as perpetrators take advantage of the situation.

The staff of the hospital is therefore calling on government to treat calls for the fencing of the facility as an emergency else they will on today, June 28, 2021 lay down their tools until the facility is properly fenced and manned by security to ensure their safety.

The Director of the Pantang Hospital, Dr. Frank Baning in a Citi News interview called for immediate intervention by the government to remedy the situation.

“Even more significant is the fact that it affects our security as a hospital and even unions of this hospital have been on strike at different locations, and it has all got to do with their security and the last one I remember was when land guards were fighting over government land to the extent that it led to stray bullets into the hospital.”

He added, “I must say that was a threat to the staff and patients. We think that this thing has dragged for far too long. I personally wish that the government treats it as an emergency and intervene to stop all these things. Even if the government is not interested in its land, they should just come and put a wall around us.”

Similar Concerns

In July 2019, workers at the Pantang Hospital embarked on a sit-down strike in protest of encroachment.

The workers had organized a demonstration to voice out their concerns.

Students of two training schools; the Pantang Nurses Training College and the Pantang Nursing and Midwifery Training College had also been complaining about the encroachment.

Workers complained that the hospital authorities had shown no commitment to dealing with the encroachment of private developers.

The workers resume normal operation after a few days following an assurance from the Ministry of Health to resolve the problem.

After probing the matter, the Minister of Health said the developer had agreed to cooperate with the government and adhere to whatever decision that would be taken to solve the issue.