Health Minister, Doctor Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu has been called out by International Women's Association Fiji President, Judy Compain after his comments that "Rome was not built in a day and we will continue to try and improve our health care system."
Compain says "Rome wasn’t built in a day”… but let’s talk about what has been built."
She says International Women's Association Fiji has just completed a brand-new Maternal-Fetal Scan Unit - built in 13 days.
Compain says she purchased a $100,000 3D Ultrasound Machine, paid for and landed in Fiji in 3 weeks for the new Maternal-Fetal Scan Unit.
She adds they renovated the Oncology Ward in 9 days, fully upgraded the Ante-Natal Clinic in 6 weeks, refurbished the Operating Theatre training rooms and on-call flats in 2 weeks, renovated the Emergency Department on-call rooms and staff rooms in 2 weeks, and the ICU on-call room was done in one day.
Compain says these are only some of the projects they have delivered, all done by volunteers, funds raised by IWA and supported by the wonderful community of individuals and corporates and completed because the work simply needed doing.
She says there were no millions, no big teams, no excuses - just a woman supervising the job with a small contractor who shows up and gets it done.
Compain says all this has been done because they care.
When asked for comments, Doctor Lalabalavu says good for Compain and the organisation she represents.
He had earlier said that a lot has been said lately about the condition of CWMH from keyboard warriors and the general public.
The Health Minister says he is all for free speech and people are entitled to their opinion for which he fully respects.
He adds the media has a role to play in sharing the news with Fiji and the rest of the world that has to be commended and he fully respects their role but sharing information which is credible and factual is also of utmost importance either through mainstream media or social media.
