There have been complaints about the delay in services provided by staff members of the Department of Social Welfare, according to Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran.
Ms Kiran said every application received by the department needed to be assessed.
In an interview, she said for big areas such as Sigatoka, assessing every application would take time.
“Complaints that come to me, I have talked to them and they are dealt with very quickly,” she said.
“Unless complaints come in, we can’t understand what the issues are.”
Ms Kiran said she’d received a few complaints about service delivery in the North.
“For Labasa, I have been told they have been very efficient in dealing with requests.
“Unless we have data on how many people have applied and have not received the assistance, I cannot divulge further details.”
Ms Kiran’s comments come in relation to a mother who’s been waiting for more than two months for antenatal support.
Grandmother Tupou Veikoso said they should call assistance postnatal rather than antenatal.
In response, Ms Kiran said she would need to check why it had taken so long for the woman to receive assistance.
