We have to renovate Matanikila House as we have to move the elderly from Ba Mission Hospital – Tabuya

About $341,835 will be spent by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection on renovations to move the elderly from Ba Mission Hospital to Matanikila House, the renovations will be done under the Ministry of Public Works by the Divisional Engineer West, who has said that the renovation work will take 8 weeks.

This was highlighted by the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Lynda Tabuya when FijiFirst MP, Premila Kumar questioned the progress on the refurbishment of the Ba Mission Hospital, for which a grant of $710,801.00 was allocated.

The Minister says Ba Mission Hospital was allocated the grant however the Ministry was advised by the Ba Methodist Church, the owners, that there were alternative plans for the property.

Tabuya says the residents and carers will now move to Matanikila House owned by Ba Provincial Holdings Company Limited and they have signed the agreement on the 30th of April.

She says the Ministry of Finance has approved the diversion of the funds for its initial intention which was the Ba Mission Hospital renovation to renovation of Matanikila House.

The Minister says they want to ensure that senior citizens in Fiji are supported to live a life of dignity and this includes providing care to elderly residents at the three Golden Age Homes across the country located in Suva, Lautoka and Labasa.

She says the structural condition of the Golden Age Home in Lautoka is more than 80 years and is deteriorating significantly and confirmed that public consultation is taking place for the restructure.

She further says the Ministry is currently waiting for the request to incur the expenditure for the release of funds to the Divisional Engineer West.

Meanwhile, FijiFirst MP Premila Kumar says the problem with the government is that they allocate money for a particular task but no action is taken and questioned how sure is the Minister that this project will finish in 8 weeks.

Tabuya says it takes time to find a suitable location and the Divisional Engineer West has assured them that all renovation work will be done within 8 weeks.