Health sector needs huge improvements- Prof. Prasad

A lot of work needs to be done in order to improve the Health Sector in the country and as a Government, we are committed to addressing these challenges to provide better services for everyone.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Prof. Biman Prasad highlighted this while speaking at a meeting with the Labasa divisional hospital heads.

Prof. Prasad says the government’s philosophy is to listen very carefully, dialogue, and understand where the problems are, because there are so many problems in the Health Sector, and that is why they have set in a process of a National Fiscal Review Committee and the National Economic Summit, where they are going to discuss some ideas on how they can deal with these issues.

The Minister says the coalition government is trying to unblock some of the arteries so that there is a very clear flow of process and decisions making.

He says they know that these are very big challenges for particularly nurses after hearing about resignations every day, and they want to make sure that they do something that can make people that are choosing to stay, more comfortable and that includes the facilities, infrastructure, living conditions, and quarters.

Prof. Prasad adds all these things are put together to determine how effectively we as a group can deal with some of these problems.

The Deputy Prime Minister also visited Dreketi Health Centre, Seaqaqa Health Centre, and Wainikoro Health Centre during his tour of the health facilities in the North.

Labasa Hospital Superintendent Dr. Jaoji Vulibeci highlighted that some of the issues the hospital face include donated high-end equipment that continuously breaks down, machines over 20 years old that are only functional with frequent expensive and delayed repairs, and officers leaving the Ministry for better pay and facilities overseas.