opas Adventist Hospital, located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, has closed its doors due to regional unrest. Two years of tribal warfare around the hospital, a murder attempt last month on the director of nursing and escalation in the violence forced the closure of the facility which, for 40 years, has provided medical care for the 250,000 people living in villages of the Enga mountains and valleys.

Dr. Percy Harrold, health director for the South Pacific Division, says the closure decision was made in late November, 2000, when it became apparent that staff members at the 100-bed hospital and nursing college were increasingly at risk. "After two years of operating under duress, repeated threats from armed individuals and groups, the recent destruction of a hospital ambulance and bus, and the attempt to murder director of nursing Francis Makop, the hospital administration closed the hospital," says Harrold.

Makop was attacked in the hospital on November 21.  He received a knife wound to his right hand and was saved from axing by the intervention of a bystander, who wrested the axe away from the attacker, according to local news reports.

The violence stems from inter-tribal warfare, which broke out in 1998 following a murder on the hospital's perimeter. Harrold was visiting Sopas Hospital for an annual inspection when he heard the first shotgun blast of the conflict. "Within a short time, warring tribes demanded compensation and retaliation for the loss of this one life," he says. "The fighting escalated from bows and arrows to semi-automatic rifles, and some local hospital staff were killed." 

Harrold says that more than 200 villagers took refuge in the hospital while police with high-powered rifles acted to protect hospital property and staff. "Since then, the hospital has been closed for days at a time because of active fighting outside the compound," he adds.

Dr. Isaac Ogendi Menge, the hospital's chief medical officer, expressed great sadness in the decision.

"At the time of the closure, both Menge and our surgeon, Dr. Elmer Ribeyro, had a hospital full of patients who needed to be transferred to other hospitals in Mt. Hagen and Wabag," says Harrold. He reports that all the staff have left, police are protecting the deserted hospital compound from looting. The hospital's college of nursing was  relocated to Pacific Adventist University near Port Moresby, and the students returned to their homes.

"The witness of Sopas Adventist Hospital has been amazing, with its health care providing an edge for evangelism in the province of Enga,"says Harrold. "It began in the 1960s and grew to a 100-bed facility providing medical, surgical, pediatric, and obstetric care of a high standard."

Hospital administrators expect the hospital to reopen as a mission clinic as soon as it is a secure place in which to live and work.


North American Division
Employee Dies in Fatal Fall
Philip Ramsey, 29, an employee of the North American Division (NAD), died December 12, 2000 when he fell from a second story balcony at Adventist World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene within minutes and he was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He passed away about 7 p.m.

Philip began work on November 27 at the NAD Church Resource Consortium, based at Pacific Union Conference in California. He came to the world headquarters to meet the division’s ministry leaders and assist in the planning process for the upcoming church ministries convention in Florida later this month, says Celeste Ryan, NAD assistant director of communication.

“Philip’s death was a tragic loss for the NAD family,” Ryan says. “Although he had just begun to work with us, he had already contributed to the ministry of the church in many ways.”


17,000 Youth Leaders Participate
in Satellite Training Seminar
An estimated 17,000 Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking youth leaders from seven South American countries took part in a training seminar uplinked on ADSAT-New Time, the South American Division’s, satellite facility.  Participating countries included Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

“It’s exciting to think that after this satellite seminar most youth leaders know the division’s plans and strategies for the next year,” says Josee Maria Barbosa, South American Division youth director. “In the past it was necessary to spend hundreds of hours traveling to inform them.”

Last year ADSAT uplinked more than 350 hours of programs produced in South America. ADSAT officials estimate 5,500 installed antennas in the South and Inter-America divisions.