We have assured the nurses that the Govt will deal with their grievances – Vosarogo

There are a lot of legacy issues that the Fiji Nursing Association has been raising for years concerning nurses’ welfare, condition of work and engagements with the Ministry of Health management that had fallen on deaf ears in the past.

That is the comment of Acting Minister for Health, Filimoni Vosarogo after confirmation that a government ministerial delegation met with the FNA last night to discuss with them their grievance.

The FNA executives also called for the resignation of Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong, Chief Nurse, Colleen Wilson and Human Resource Director, Joe Fuata.

There were also plans for a nurses protest due to the mass resignations, nurses work and pay conditions and the issues relating to health facilities.

Vosarogo confirms that the ministerial delegation that met with FNA was headed by Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Biman Prasad and included Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Agni Deo Singh and Vosarogo.

The Acting Health Minister says in a healthy democracy, roundtable engagement and proper arms-length negotiations is vital.

Vosarogo says when we encourage responsible dialogue, the nation benefits from the productivity that ensues.

He says they have heard from the executives of the FNA last night of some of their legacy grievances and they assured them that the government will deal with those issues and embark on building trust and good faith with the nurses so that they can continue to serve in our hospitals and health facilities.

Vosarogo says the government had allocated over $11 million in this year’s budget to address nurse retention and an approximately $6 million for overtime.

He says from yesterday’s meeting, they feel it is important to get to first base on the important and priority issues and the Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Prasad has welcomed the FNA executives to continue to bring to government their concerns so that the plight of nurses are holistically addressed. Vosarogo says the meeting was fruitful and they intend to continue dialogue and resolve the grievances moving forward together as they rebuild Fiji’s health and medical services.