11 Mar 2015

Fiji Medical Association calls for better resourcing

9:15 pm on 11 March 2015

The President of Fiji's Medical Association says the Ministry of Health needs to size the resources it gives to health facilities to better suit the needs of the people.

In 2013 The United Front for a Democratic Fiji party claimed that under the Bainimarama regime the country's main health facility had a range of issues, including shortages of drugs, not enough specialists, and a lack of expertise to fix equipment.

stethoscope and heart monitor

Photo: AFP / Science Photo Library

Dr. James Fong says members are relieved that the much needed rebuild of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital is in its final stages and is expected to be running full services by the end of next month.

But Dr. Fong says more awareness needs to be raised around how much resources the Ministry has so people know what to expect.

In many instances, sometimes their expectations at the moment are a little bit beyond what the system is resourced to provide. And we do need to create a little bit more awareness about how much we can give and therefore how much the people should expect from us.