ST Mary’s Vunapope Hospital in Kokopo, East New Britain (ENB) has been closed temporarily as of yesterday due to the increase in staff currently affected and exposed to Covid-19 disease.
A public notice from the hospital management said the hospital will be closed until further notice and only the maternity ward will be open for pregnant mothers ready to deliver.
ENB Provincial Covid-19 incident manager Dr Alex Maha said all doctors and a dozen of nurses have tested positive and are in isolation.
Many patients have also tested positive and it is believed that they are being infected by the staff. Some of the hospital units have their entire staff in isolation therefore the decision to close.
Dr Maha confirmed there were at least three in-patients transferred to Rabaul Provincial Hospital formerly known as Nonga General Hospital.
At the Rabaul Provincial Hospital over 40 staff including doctors, nurses, staff at the Laboratory, Xray, Pharmacy and all departments have been confirmed positive.
“The real danger is that as services shut down due to Covid-19, patients may die from other issues simply because of lack of help,” he said.
Dr Maha urged everyone to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols and stay home and avoid moving around unnecessarily.
“Stay home, have steam treatment, eat a lot of fruits and come to the health facilities and get tested if you want to know your status.”
Meantime he said ENB is running low on test kits.
