About 600 surgical operations at Fiji's main Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva have been put on hold after four operating theatres were declared contaminated and risky.
The Fiji Times reports that the theatres were closed last week after bugs were found inside the area where surgery is done.
The president of the Fiji Medical Association, Dr Jona Senilagakali, says he met surgeons sitting outside the theatres who complained about the poor conditions inside.
Dr Senilagakali says the last government had failed to address the issue and patients are now paying for the negligence.
The new minister of curative health, Dr Guneragaran Gounder, says no major maintenance work was done in the theatres since they were built 13 years ago.
Dr Gounder says he will personally see to it that the problem is addressed as soon as possible.
