Fiji Health Ministry eyes foreign doctor recruitment

Fiji's Health Ministry is allocating substantial resources and effort towards recruiting doctors from overseas to fill gaps in the clinical and public health areas.

This was revealed in Parliament by new Health Minister Rosy Akbar Monday.

She said the ministry made locum arrangements with general practitioners in the country to support the health sector in critical areas.

Calling this arrangement an immediate fix to service delivery, Akbar said they were working with the Civil Service Ministry to fill 879 new positions for medical intendants, consultants, chief, principal and senior medical officers and medical interns and medical interns.

“So far we have filled 553 of those positions, and we will continue to seek qualified professionals for the remaining 326 spots,” she said.

Akbar said the new recruitment efforts came on top of the recent pay rise ranging from 56 per cent to 81 per cent for the doctors, which made major strides in increasing job security and satisfaction.

She told Parliament that the ministry was taking serious measures to ensure service offerings were expanded in hospitals and that chronic issues affecting service delivery were addressed.

“There is no accurate measurement of just how satisfying access to high quality healthcare can be for ordinary people so we must be unrelenting in our own efforts to give every Fijian the knowledge that, should they ever need it, quality healthcare is available,” Akbar said.

She said hospitals needed to be kept clean with professional and friendly attitude displayed by healthcare providers.


SOURCE: FIJI TIMES