As public frustration over the state of healthcare in Fiji grows, the Minister for Health, Doctor Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu confirms that the Ministry has realised that they are playing a catch-up game across nearly all aspects of the service delivery.
Dr Lalabalavu highlighted this during the fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan when asked if they are playing a catch-up game, which is resulting in a lot of neglect.
He says looking after the Ministry is a challenge in itself but to play catch-up from 16 years of neglect adds more challenge to the work that needs to be done.
When asked why is this happening, he says since taking office he has noticed that most of the infrastructure was not well maintained.
The Minister says equipment, consumables and working conditions are the challenges that he has faced and he has allowed the staff and association to come in and make submissions.
He says they have to go back to human resources and see how they can beef up the biomedical team to enable them to go out and do servicing on time.
Dr Lalabalavu says some hospitals have received new medical equipment but their ability to utilize these machines has been hindered by electricity load issues.
The Minister says they have requested budgetary allocation with the submission given by the Medical Superintendent and staff that work at the CWM Hospital.
He further says there is also an ongoing partnership with one of the development partners in terms of the Master Plan.
Dr Lalabalavu says they are trying their best to ensure things are done in a timely manner with the allocation granted for the infrastructure improvement.
However, there are challenges that they as a Ministry face and the work that needs to be done is somehow beyond them.
The Health Ministry remains committed to addressing these longstanding issues, but the road to improvement will require significant investment and coordinated efforts.
