The union which represents nurses in Fiji says morale is at a low ebb and hospital services are suffering because they haven't been paid overtime for months.
General Secretary of the Nursing Association, Kuini Latua, says nurses at Suva's main hospital have not been paid overtime for the last three months.
She says the high cost of living means they need the extra cash for essentials but they've been told to take time off instead
"These past few months the nurses can really feel the strain because a lot of nurses do not want to turn up to work because there is no overtime paid. The workload on the nurses that continue to manage the shift is quite heavy sometimes now leading to sickness."
Kuini Latua says some nurses have been working two to three days extra a fortnight in overtime.
The Health Ministry says nurses get half of their overtime in money and half in days off and it's working on curtailing the nurses' use of overtime.
