ANOTHER critical piece of medical equipment has been out of action in a hospital up North, deepening concerns over the state of healthcare services in the region.
The X-ray machine at Savusavu Hospital has been out of service for nearly a year.
This latest development comes just a week after The Fiji Times revealed the CT scanner at Labasa Hospital has been non-operational for more than two years.
Permanent Secretary for Health Jemesa Tudravu said all patients required to get an X-ray were being sent to Labasa Hospital or the private provider at the ministry’s cost.
“Confirming that the X-ray machine at Savusavu Hospital is not working at the moment,” he said, adding the anticipated replacements were expected to arrive over the next two months.
“We have purchased a replacement X-ray machine.”
A member of the hospital’s board of visitors, Avikash Pillay, said poor communities were suffering the most as a result of the X-ray machine at Savusavu Hospital being out of order.
“Since November last year, the X-ray machine has remained out of service,” he said.
Mr Pillay said patients had been forced to travel long distances to Labasa Hospital or seek costly private alternatives.
“If they take a taxi to Labasa, it can cost around $100 one way.”
Mr Pillay had raised the issue with the authorities as far back as March this year, and the community was promised a new X-ray machine by June.
Savusavu residents are now calling for immediate action from authorities to restore X-ray services at the hospital and to ensure no one is denied timely medical care.
