The Ministry of Civil Service is fully committed to the well‑being of doctors and provides well‑defined channels of communication for doctors to raise any workplace concerns.
Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Bernadette Welch had this to say when Fijivillage had asked about the state of doctors in Fiji.
We had raised this issue when a government doctor posted on social media that he and some of his colleagues may be going through depressive periods. He had said that when they try to solve their issues, they are reminded of the channel of communication and then ignored and when they tell their seniors, the doctors are told that they are weak.
Fijivillage had asked how often doctors are given the opportunity to raise concerns about their work conditions. We had also asked how many hours doctors have to work in a day, what their schedules are like and what the doctor‑patient ratio is at the moment.
Welch says the Ministry has made it clear to doctors that if they feel they are not getting any traction, they can push matters up the line.
She says this means that if they feel their complaint is not being given due consideration they have clear permission to escalate to the next level of management and beyond if necessary.
Welch says doctors are welcome to raise their issues at any time.
She says issues that come to the Ministry of Civil Service are recorded and monitored and matters of a disciplinary nature are dealt with, consistent with the Civil Service Discipline Guideline.
