Madang’s main hospital is teetering on the edge of collapse as health workers raise alarm over chronic mismanagement, severe underfunding, and failing infrastructure. Acting Hospital Manager John Mark Jeremiah says the once-functioning referral hospital can no longer deliver safe and reliable services. Essential equipment like X-ray machines and anaesthetic tools are broken, sanitation is poor, and power and water outages are common. “We’re no longer meeting basic healthcare standards,” Jeremiah said. Doctors have reported being cut from payroll and evicted from staff housing due to unpaid rent. Financial records show that K25 million of the hospital’s K30.5 million annual budget is tied to wages, leaving only K6 million for all other operations in 2025. Staff have submitted an 11-point petition to authorities, demanding immediate emergency funding, restoration of clinical authority to doctors, and the release of delayed infrastructure funds. They have given 14 days for a response. Madang Open MP Bryan Kramer has pledged K2.3 million to address urgent maintenance needs and called the situation a national emergency. “This is a complete systems failure,” Kramer said. “Lives are at risk.” The Ombudsman Commission has arrived in Madang to begin investigations, and a public inspection of the facility is being planned. Health staff are now calling on the National Department of Health and Secretary Dr Osborne Liko to release emergency funds without delay. “This is no longer a local issue,” one health worker said. “It’s a national crisis.”