People in the Northern Division may not have to worry about medicine shortage after the opening of Labasa Divisional Hospital Warehouse Tolu in Siberia Road, Labasa by the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka this afternoon.
While acknowledging the Japanese Government for funding the $2.2 million facility, Rabuka says the warehouse will now serve as the ‘medicine hub’ of the Northern Division – a forefront of transitioning medical supplies across the three provinces.
He says the new warehouse will service the 65 healthcare facilities in the Northern Division, this includes 11 healthcare facilities in the Bua province, 25 healthcare facilities in the Macuata province, 19 healthcare facilities in Cakaudrove, and 10 healthcare facilities in the island Taveuni.
Rabuka says the warehouse is aligned to the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services building height standard and will play a critical role in the storage and distribution of medical supplies for outpatient service, Non-Communicable Diseases, HIV, TB, and Rheumatic Heart Disease amongst others.
He says in addition, it will store medicines and consumables for family planning, laboratory reagents, dental items, and vaccines, as well as biomedical equipment and consumables for the Northern Division health facilities.
The Prime Minister further says the Health Ministry continues to be inundated by the shortages of critical drugs and essential medicines to meet patient demand, however, Government remains committed to rectifying this.
He says in the current fiscal year, the Ministry of Health has been allocated $2.5 million to strengthen Primary Health Care services to deliver efficient healthcare services and build health resilience in communities through health prevention, preparedness and promotion.
Rabuka adds through the Primary Health Care approach, they intend to achieve Universal Health Coverage for the people and progressively improve health status in the years to come.
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