THE healthcare system in Fiji is in a state of deterioration, a situation attributed to years of neglect.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad confirmed this in an interview with this newspaper during the launch of the Fiji Health Sector Review.
Prof Prasad said the decline in healthcare outcomes over the past two decades was clearly evident in the data and findings of the recent report by the World Bank.
He said the Government had requested the bank to conduct the review due to concerns that health outcomes had been growing worse in recent years.
“What we see today, the high incidence of NCDs, is a direct result of the neglect that we saw in the last 15 to 20 years,” Prof Prasad said.
“The report says very clearly that our health outcomes were better in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s, and it started deteriorating since then.”
The deterioration, according to Prof Prasad, was not only a public health crisis, but also an economic burden on the country as the high cost of treating chronic diseases continued to strain the healthcare system.
“The economic burden on the country is huge.
“If we invest more in public health to prevent NCDs, we will see better economic outcomes and reduce the overall cost of healthcare.
“When people end up in the hospital, treatment becomes more expensive. It makes economic sense to invest early in preventive measures.”
Prof Prasad recalled a time in the 1970s and 80s when nurses would routinely visit communities and villages for follow-up care, which helped prevent many people from requiring hospital treatment.
However, he lamented that such practices had largely disappeared, with a shift towards a reactive healthcare system that has resulted in more people requiring hospital care.
To address these issues, he said the Government was focusing on a major overhaul of Fiji’s healthcare infrastructure.
“We are going to have the Indian Government build a super-specialty hospital.
“We have the Australian Government looking at the upgrade of the CWM.
“Plus, as announced by the World Bank country director, we are looking at a new national hospital that will not only just cater for Fiji, but for many of the countries in the Pacific.
“And so this is a significant step taken by the Coalition Government and the Honourable Prime Minister himself has led this and talked about how we need to improve our health outcomes in the country.”
