AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER & SECRETARY FOR HEALTH

By Ludwig Nanawar

I am deeply disturbed to hear that the Minister for Health, the Secretary and Dr Ambi of Mental Health Directorate made a surprised visit to Laloki Psychiatric Hospital and made an appointment for an Acting CEO without following proper screening and recruitment processes.

The irony of this appointment is that the appointee who was handpicked by Dr Ambi using her powers under the flawed Mental Health Act (MHA) holds a Fijian passport. Existing legislations clearly state that priority in appointment of senior public service positions must be given to a Papua New Guinean unless there is no suitably qualified candidate for the job.We do have experienced senior public servants at Laloki Hospital. I wont name them, you just overlooked them.

The flawed and erroneous MHA that was passed gave powers to the Director of The Directorate of of Mental Health to appoint CEO of a Psychiatric Hospital, contrary to existing legislations governing appointment CEOs.
Äccording to the Act: Section 9 (1) states that "The Chief Executive Officer of a psychiatric hospital shall be appointed by the Board on the Recommendation of the Director"
This section of the Act was heavily criticised during our review of the Bill as it opens room for nepotism and cronysim, and biased appointments as is clearly illustrated here.
We cannot take back PNG this way.

I have emailed the Minister clarifying the Independence of Laoki Psychiatric Hospital and the Directorate which must be governed by a separate legislation as recommended by the Workforce Assessment team from NDOH last year. The Minister and the Secretary failed to implement those recommendations which included approving our manpower structure.
You got ill-informed and ill-advised again.
I hear middle management of NDOH were overlooked and their advise also not taken heed of.
Myself and my fellow Psychiatrist are resigning.
Thank you.