A much needed boost to the Fiji health system on the horizon

Transcript

A much needed rebuild to Fiji's main health facility is now in its final stages and is expected to be running full services by the end of next month.

In 2013 the United Front for a Democratic Fiji claimed that under the Bainimarama regime the Colonial War Memorial Hospital had a range of issues, including shortages of drugs, not enough specialists, and a lack of expertise to fix equipment.

The President of Fiji's Medical Association, James Fong, told Indira Moala the hospital will now be able to offer surgery that has never been performed in Fiji.

JAMES FONG: We have at the moment, the final stages of the new ICU unit, we've increased from 4 to 8 operating theatres, and we are now waiting to put in some new equipment in order to try and make them operational.

INDIRA MOALA: With all the new equipment and services, will this offer new opportunities for particular surgeries and operations that haven't been able to happen in Fiji yet?.

JF: Yes, definitely. Some of the operating theatres that are being made are specific to some of the newer surgical services that we envision. The neuro-surgical services - there will be a limit to the scope of neuro-surgical services that we can offer, but there are some of the more simpler services that we haven't been doing that we can do now - from neuro-surgery. And we do have a person here who has been trained to do some complex neuro-surgical stuff so we expect that he will be a bit more operational. Also, two theatres that are outfitted for cardiac surgery. I presume that there will be a model of care where we might have visitors come in and use the dedicated cardiac theatres for a while, until we can get more and more people trained in cardiac surgery.

IM: And in terms of funding and donations for the improvements to the hospital, where has the funding come from?

JF: A lot of the allocation has come directly through government, that's what I've been told. But I presume that there have been some funding agencies that have worked through central government agencies.

IM: We spoke to you about a year and a half ago about the improvements that were needed to the hopsital. You must be relieved that things are well underway and almost completed now?

JF: Oh yes, I think most of our members are quite very relieved at the fact that we have space for new services. We are moving in the right direction as far as most of the members are concerned.

IM: In terms of the country's Ministry of Health, what's the greatest area that needs improvement at the moment?

JF: I think for many of us it's just right-sizing the needs of the people to how much we are resourcing health to meet those needs. At the moment there are many people who want many things. And in many instances, 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, how much we are resourced to give and therefore how much the people should expect from us.