BA Vision Eye Clinic Jacqueline Luck expressed disappointment at the Health Ministry’s refusal to register expatriate eye surgeons to perform surgeries in Fiji. Ms Luck told the Fijian Media Association’s Town Hall Forum in Ba that the centre does not have the skill locally available to perform some of the procedures required.
“We invite volunteers and surgeons from other countries to come and provide their skilled services to help the Fijian community,” she said.
“I have more than 100 patients waiting for their cataract surgeries and retina treatments, which are not available in Fiji, and then these patients keep knocking at our doors, requesting our services, and I get a rejection from the Ministry of Health.
“When these same surgeons have visited us in the past three years, eight times they were given the registration, but on this ninth application, their registration is kept on hold, and they have not been registered.”
Ms Luck said despite meeting the Fiji Medical Council’s requirements, the specialists were still denied entry.
The Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said there had been doctors who worked alongside local medical personnel after being issued a permit by the ministry.
Mr Rabuka agreed the Health Ministry should not be stopping these expatriate surgeons from coming to Fiji. “They have to verify the various qualifications, and so on, because they are putting our patients into their hands, and it’s the Government that is responsible.
