Police said they were called around 11 pm after a man entered the back seat of the woman’s car and pointed to her a gun, saying it to drive.
“The woman drove a short distance before leaving the car and asked for help in a nearby house. The man fled on foot,” they said.
“Fortunately, no one was injured, but that would have been a terrifying experience for the woman.”
Police are investigating, including doing forensic consultations, to locate the man.
Health NZ said it has increased security in the hospital.
“This has been a traumatic experience for our team, and we are involving all care and support around you,” said Sarah Fenwick, director of group operations at Midcentral Health.
“We put additional security measures and we will continue to talk to our teams about what we can do most.”
An internal warning to the Hospital team, seen by RNZ, said safety would be available to accompany their cars employees, if they needed, and the afternoon and evening workers would have access to the team’s parking lot.
They encouraged people to “walk with a friend” before and after their shifts, if possible, lock their cars and keep valuables out of their cars.
