A/HRC/16/52/Add.5
repay an offence. She only collected 300 Kina and her husband told the police to re-arrest
her. She had been taken back to the police station but had not been charged. She asked for
permission for her family to visit her and bring bedding but it was refused by police.
A female detainee, aged 19, left her husband and went to her village after arguing with
him. At Mt. Hagen bus stop, her husband found her and dragged her to the police station.
The police indicated that because her husband had not paid the bride price she was free to
go, but the husband insisted that she was still his wife. She asked the police to allow her to
call her brothers and they refused. She was told to call her father, but she threw the mobile
phone on the floor and broke it. The owner of the phone asked her to pay for it, and since
she did not have any money, she was put in the cell for the night. Her family brought her a
new phone but the police insisted on holding her in the cell and asked that she pay them
staying in the cell. Her family had promised to come back with the money to have her
released.
Laloki Hospital, Port Moresby
Visited 24 May 2010
The Special Rapporteur was received by Dr. Yamele Getzo, head of the hospital. The
hospital was the only one for persons with psychiatric problems in the country, and had a
capacity for 100 patients. The facility also provided general health care services to the
population living nearby. The facility had an open and a closed wing. Due to the stretched
capacity of the open wing, some of the patients had been transferred to the closed wing.
Persons who had committed a crime but were unfit to stand trial were not separated from
other patients. It was the nursing staff’s responsibility to ensure the patients’ safety. There
were no security guards working at the hospital.
Built after World War II, the facility was rundown. There was a severe shortage of adequate
housing for the patients and the staff. Plans for renovation were available and were
presented to the Special Rapporteur, however, funds for its implementation were lacking. In
terms of medication, the supplies were outdated. Treatment of mental conditions was
largely limited to counseling. Most of the patients were young men who suffered from drug
abuse, but no drug substitutes were provided. There were approximately 80 male patients in
the clinic, 38 of whom were in the closed station. All the women were in ward No. 6 of the
General Hospital. There were presently no juveniles there. The staff numbered
approximately 50, including 20 nurses and health workers. The medical records of the
patients were very well-kept. The dormitories were in a good state. The closed area was
star-shaped, with a circular area where the patients were kept during the day, with the
various dormitories around it. It had daylight and fresh air, and they could look into the
garden through the bars.
According to Dr. Getzo, there were only six psychiatrists in the entire country. Of those,
only two worked in health care. The two psychiatrists worked at the hospital on a part-time
basis and came in once per week. Only one of them dealt with forensic psychiatry. De
facto, the overwhelming majority of the medical work was carried out by the 20 members
of the nursing staff. The nurses had the responsibility to select those patients who should be
seen by the psychiatrists, and they eventually decided which patients could be released. On
average, patients spent four months at the hospital. However, there were several patients
who had been accommodated in the closed wing for several years. One person had been
held there for 20 years.
65
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents