Parts of the Modilon General Hospital in Madang town went up in flames in the early hours of this morning destroying equipment and some documents but claiming no casualties or affecting too much of the service. According to the Director of Public Health of the Madang Provincial Health Authority, Dr. Martin Daimen, the parts that got burned down was the hospital library and part of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNG IMR) office, which lost some of the laboratory research equipment in the fire. He added that the hospital library used to be the old section B of the children’s ward but was later converted into the library. Dr. Daimen said the rest of the hospital facility remains intact and health services to the public continues at this time, including the COVID-19 testing and vaccination. “The medical research institute office is burnt but that has not affected COVID-19 testing because the lab is mainly for medical research for the hospital. Testing for COVID-19 continues at its own facility at the other part of the hospital.” According to Dr. Daimen, the fire started at around midnight and is suspected to be caused by an electrical fault in the ceiling. He also confirmed that no one was injured in the fire as the buildings had no hospital staff inside them at the time of fire. The fire service also arrived on time to put out the fire before it spread to the other nearby buildings. Pictures sourced: Facebook