Transcript
Mithun Permal and his wife Vishakini Lata turned to local newspapers and social media to vent their frustration over the way their daughter's still birth was handled.
They say they didn't hear from medical staff for over an hour after their daughter was born at Lautoka Hospital.
They then had a verbal confrontation with staff and filmed them screaming at the father.
"Get out...get out. Get out right now. Right now. Get out!!"
A family friend, Pritika Kumar, says this sort of behaviour is widespread.
"All the departments and hospitals in Nadi are suffering the same problem. All the patients are always complaining that the nurses are not very nice to us. Whenever we have questions or whenever we take anybody in to emergency, their behaviour is very rude towards us."
Doctors in Fiji RNZ International spoke to, who did not wish to be named, said the health system was struggling and as a result patients were suffering.
They pointed to tight budgets and staffing, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of resources.
One said patient care is dire because of the government's lack of investment in health.
But the secretary of Fiji's Medical Association, Alipate Vakamocea, says Fiji is doing quite well on the global scale.
"We are doing pretty well compared to all the other developing countries. Like just to give you an example, there is the recent case of a neo-natal death but when you stand back and look at the world statistics, it is something like 1-point-5 percent and Fiji is just like one percent, so we are doing pretty well."
Hospital horror stories have been appearing more frequently in the local media as well as on social media including reports of pregnant women lying in hallways because of a shortage of space.
Dr Vakamocea says there are many factors involved which may not see the light of day.
"Unfortunately for us as doctors in the medical profession, we are unable to reveal those factors without jeopardising confidentiality with the patient. So it is always going to be a one-sided discussion and that is always going to be something that will be always be difficult to defend against."
The Health Minister Rosy Akbar told nurses at their AGM recently she'd heard reports of nurses who were rude, abrupt, or unhelpful.
She asked them to be mindful of Fiji's commitment to global development goals including promises to improve health care.
"I do not want you to form a view that I'm unfairly criticizing you and I've always said that you do a wonderful work but these gaps need to be addressed ladies and gentleman otherwise we will continue to be plagued by the negativity that continues to take the ministry by storm. So I fully acknowledge the work that you do, the proud profession that you are and that is why it is all the more important that we work together and that we do not allow the occasional lapse to damage or distort the our reputation."
The ministry is reported to be investigating the actions of midwives involved in the stillbirth case at Lautoka.